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COL.GEORG1   \V.\sMI\GTON  FLOWI  &S 
Ml  MORIAL  COLLECTION 


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TRINITY  COLLEG1    1  IHRARY 
DURHAM 


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AWSE  AND' CONTRAST: 


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\\i         [CAN   CRISIS. 


T.  W.    MacMAHON, 


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€mm  anb  Contrast, 


CAUSE  AND  CONTRAST: 


AN  ESSAY 


AMEEIOAN     CRISIS. 


BY 

T.   \V.  MacMAHON 


RICHMOND,  V\. 
\\   BS  T    A    JOHNS  TO  N 

1862. 


.  in  tho  year  1801,  by 
WEST  ft  J0HN8T0N, 

la  the  Distriot  ('curt  of  the  Confederate  States  for  the 
t  of  Virginia. 


C1IAS.    11     wynm:,    mi  Mill. 


3    "2. 
/A  I  <o  1 


TO 
HIS    EXCELLENCY, 

JEFFERSON     DAVIS; 

FIRST    PRESIDENT    OF    THE    CONFEDERATE    STATES  : 

SOLDIER,  ORATOR,  STATESMAN, 

un 

CHOSEN    CHIEF     OF    UNITED     SOUTHERN    PATRIOTISM; 

WHO,  IN    VIOLATION    OF 

NO    CONSTITUTIONAL    OBLIGATION, 

AND    USURPING    NO    PRINCIPLE    OF    SPECIAL    OR   UNIVERSAL    LIDERTY, 

STANDS    FORTH 

A    TRUE    REPRESENTATIVE    OF   PURE    AMERICANISM; 

A    GUARDIAN    OF   INDIVIDUAL   RIGHTS  ; 

AND 

AN    UPHOLDER   OF 

STATE    SOVEREIGNTY: 

ftljis  €ssan 

IS, 
BY    PERMISSION,    RESPECTFUI.LT 

DEDICATED 


180567 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Dedication v 

Preface ix 

I. 

Introduction — King  Canibyses  and  King  Lincoln 1 

II. 
Continuation 2 

III. 

Universality  of  Slavery  and  Permanency  of  its  Characteris- 
tics   3 

IV. 
Egyptian  Slavery — Hebrew  Slavery 

V. 

Slavery  in  India 8 

VI. 

The  Systems  of  Pre-bistoric  Nations 9 

VII. 
Systems  of  Grecian  Servitude 15 

VIII. 
Roman  Slavery 19 


180567 


xiv  CONTENTS. 


IX. 

PAGE 

The  [nstitotioo  among  Barbaric  and  European  Nations 22 

X. 

■ils  and  Serfs — Why  it  was  effected — and  ' 
notion,  moral  and  social,  between  Ancient 
v  and  African  Subordination 27 

XI. 

i.  Degradation,  and  base  Characteristics  of  the  Negro 
it  home  ;   Illustrated  from  the  Writings  of  Eminent 
Divines  and  Travelers 37 

XII. 

Cause  of  this  Degradation  traced  to  the  Physiological,  Ana- 

nd   Psycological   Characteristics  of  the  Negro ; 

■iii£  the  Opinions  and  Discoveries  of  Distinguished 

49 

XIII. 

iniquity,  hypocrisy,  false  cant  and  total  God- 

itionism,  examined  and  exposed 04 

XIV. 

[XQCTBT  Into  the  Origin  of  our  System  of  African  Subordina- 

ilishing  that  the  agency  of  the  South  in  it  was 

.•   negative,  but   that  of  England  and  the  North 

.'•     and    positive — Ventilating    the   duplicity    of    the 

I  Of  Oxford   and   British   Pragmatists — Showing  that 

fa]  Culture  of  Cotton  depends  upon  Constrained 

i  exposing  the  folly  of  Eastern  Rivalry 93 

XV. 

8oori!irs    Munificence   and    Northern    Ingratitude  —  Lincoln's 

in  -Perfidy,  fanaticism,  and  political  suicide 11G 


PREFACE. 


Early  in  the  month  of  June  last,  or  late  in  May,  an 
editorial  article  appeared  in  the  Charleston  Mercury,  recom- 
mending the  production  and  encouragement  of  Southern 
literature,  with  which  I  was  so  forcibly  impressed,  as  to 
resolve  upon  the  composition  and  publication  of  the  follow- 
ing essay.  I  felt  that,  at  this  crisis  in  our  history,  a  brief 
work,  containing  a  comprehensive  and  popularly  written  expo- 
sition of  Southern  political  philosophy,  might  be  advan- 
tageously placed  before  the  world  j  and  although  there  were 
far  abler  pens  than  mine  in  the  land,  upon  which  might  have 
devolved  this  duty,  their  silence  impelled  me  to  make  the 
present  attempt. 

In  my  treatment  of  the  subject,  I  have  endeavored  to  be 
brief,  lucid,  and  compendious — to  make  my  little  work  as 
compact  as  possible,  and  .  spare  the  reader  from  useless  or 
unnecessary  reading.  I  have  undertaken  to  prove  histo- 
rically, that  slavery  was  originally  a  universal  institution  of 
all  great  governments  and  societies;  but  that  the  systems  of 
the  ancients  were  radically  different  from  negro  subordination 
in  America.  I  have  ventured  to  show  that  cannibalism  and 
fetichism  arc,  and  ever  have  been,  the  normal  and  unalterable 
condition  of  the  negro  in  his  native  home — that  he  is  phy- 


I  PR] 

'  d,  thai  he  is  of  an  infe* 
-  of  the  human  depei  lent  upon  the  I 

enlightenment,  and  well-being — and  that, 
.ml  subjection  being  his  natural  state,  the  relation 
which  lif  new  lip,  in  the   Confederate 

[ful  to  him  and  the  cause  of  religion  and  civili- 
sation. 

nal  w.ir  into  which  we  have  been 
i  I    think,  established,    that,  bo  far  as   the 

South  u  concerned,  it  was  unavoidable— that   it  v. 

her  will — in  spite  <>t'  her  prayers  and  Bop- 

■  be  first  and  oi  oist ; 

1  Union,  and  trampled  under  foot  the 

I  tituUon,  which  was  the  bond  of  Union;  ai  h,  let 
In  r  stand  arraigned  before  the  bar  oi                 and  unh 
justi 

I  do  not  olaim  anything  like  pure  originality  I 

1,  much  of  its  matter  may  have  been  already  familiar  to 
the  r     ler.     Bui  tl  irrangement,  design,  and  mod 

tn  atmi  at,  are  wholly  my  own. 

I    ihould  not  "iiiit  t'>  mention  here,  that  it  has  been  my 

good  fortune  t.>  1.  acquainted  with  a  dis- 

ished  gentleman,  whom  I  an  proud  to  call  my  friend  — 

II  n     \i  DlBUTRT.      ( )f  him   I  can  truly  add,  that  lie 

Domplished   oritio,   s   profound    thinker,   and   a   tine 

scholar    a   man   of    Athenian    acumen,   and    gifted    with   a 

Ireek    mind.     I   am   indebted  to   him  for  important 

stions,  as  well  as  fir  the  reading  and  con  of  my 

i  Di  Bow,  whose  fruitful  labors  have 


PREFACE.  51 

peculiarly  associated  him  with  the  industrial  growth  and 
development  of  the  South,  I  am  also  obliged  for  kind  atten- 
tions, and  for  having  been  instrumental  in  materially  adding 
to  my  knowledge  of  cotton  culture. 

I  must  not,  and  should  not,  conclude,  without  offering 
sincere  and  unaffected  thanks  to  my  publishers — Messrs. 
West  &  Johnston.  They  have  promptly  responded  to  every 
wish  of  mine,  in  the  face  of  difficulties  and  expense,  during 
the  publication  of  this  work.  Indeed,  Mr.  Johnston,  par- 
ticularly,— Mr.  'West  being  absent  in  the  military  service  of 
his  country — has  been  to  me,  not  only  a  business,  but  a 
personal,  friend — always  cheerful,  courteous,  generous  and 
obliging;  and  if  my  first  book  meets  with  popular  favor,  it 
is  merely  designed  to  form,  a  general  introduction  to  a  history 
of  the  present  war — which  shall  bear  the  imprint  of  my 
first  publishers. 


ERRATA, 


Tngp  02 — line  25 — for   "carnival  feast,"  read  cannibal  feast. 
Page  124 — Hue  \b — for  '-Fugitive  Slaw  Law,"   read  Fugitive  Slave 
Law. 


% 


CONTENTS.  XV 


xvr. 

•  PAGE 

Characteristics  of  Tyrants  and  Tyranny — The  modern  Ty- 
rant and  Tyranny  without  historic  parallels  —  Overthrow 
of  Americanism  —  Perversions  and  Subversion  of  the 
Federal  Constitution — rerjury 139 

XVII. 

Iniquity  of  the  Present  War  —  Duplicity  of  its  Authors  — 
Confederate  Victories  and  Successes  —  Humbling  of  the 
Vaunted— The  God  of  Hosts  our  Ally 1G8 


CAUSE  AND  CONTRAST. 


"The  whole  conduct  of  Cambyses,"  says  Herodotus,  the 
father  of  history,  "  towards  the  Egyptian  gods,  sanctu- 
aries and  priests,  convinces  me  that  this  King  was  in  the 
highest  degree  insane ;  for  otherwise  he  would  not  have 
insulted  the  worship  and  holy  things  of  a  people."     The 
coincidence  between    the  conduct  of   Cambyses,  one  of 
the  earliest  rulers  of  men,  and  that  of  Mr.  Abraham 
Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  one 
of  the  latest  rulers  in  Time,  is  singularly  striking  and 
remarkable.     This  King,  Lincoln,  has  been,  and  now  i?, 
endeavoring  to  overthrow  the  institutions  and  ruin  the 
prosperity  of  fifteen  sovereign  and  independent  Southern 
States:    first,   by  insult,    vilification,    and    contumelious 
abuse   of  their   social   system ;  then,  by  direct  assault, 
or  gradual  encroachment  upon  their  constitutional  rights  ; 
and  lastly,  by  seeking  to  slaughter  their  liberties  beneath 
the   iron   heel  of  armed   mercenary  invaders.     Instead 
of  ruling   in   accordance   with   the  eternal  principles  of 
rectitude  and  benevolence,  he  has  chosen  to  inaugurate 
discord,  hatred,  and  civil    war,  between   thirty  millions 
of  brothers,  and  to  convert  a  country  smiling  with  love- 
liness and  beauty,  and  teeming  with  wealth  and  pros- 
perity,   into    a    great    Golgotha.       He     has     violated 
that  Constitution   which  he  has   sworn   to  observe  and 
protect ;  he  has  made  war  without  right  or  authority ;  he 
1 


2  OAUSH    AND    CONTRAST. 

has  converted  free  institutions  into  instruments  of  des- 
|  mi:  he  has  prepared  armed  men  for  the  sack  and 
Carnage  of  great  commercial  cities,  and  the  waste  and 
desolation  of  harvest  fields — peaceful  and  happy  homes; 
and  the  Ocean,  which  should  be  the  natural  bond  of 
love  and  amity  between  the  Nations,  he  has  changed 
into  a  high  road  of  terror  for  the  merchant,  and  a 
barracks  for  his  ships  of  war. 

II. 

The  historians  of  future  ages,  in  philosophising  upon 
the  unaccountable  events  of  the  past,  will  have  to  record 
how  the  greatest  and  most  favored  country  upon  earth, 
with  the  most  liberal  code  of  laws  that  the  world  had 
yet  witnessed,  growing  out  of  the  rational  theory  of 
individual  self-government,  was  destroyed  by  the  per- 
yerse  fanaticism  of  a  certain  political  organization,  the 
chosen  chief  of  which  is  Abraham  Lincoln.  The  ethics, 
or  doctrines  rather,  of  this  party  arc  founded  upon  the 
allegation,  that  negro  subordination  is  contrary  to  Divine 
law  and  revolting  to  the  moral  sense  of  mankind,  and 
that  >]  ivcry  is  the  creature  of  local  or  municipal  codes 
and  at  war  with  Nature.  Such  assumptions  are  unten- 
able, fictitious,  and  iniquitous.  And  before  passing  over 
to  a  review  of  that  cruel  question,  which  more  immediately 
destroys  the  peace  and  happiness  of  the  American 
'•■.  we  will  proceed  with  a  refutation  of  these  funda- 
mental errors:  establishing  that  slavery  is  coeval  with 
the  dawn  of  history  and  civilization,  and  existed  ante- 
cedent to  all  written  codes;  showing  that  the  subordina- 
tion of  the  negro  to  the  Caucasian  is  not  slavery,  but,  that 
being  of  physical  and  intellectual  inferiority  of  organism, 


SLAVERY   UNIVERSAL.  3 

this  is  his  normal  condition  ;  and,  finally,  proving  beyond 
cavil,  that  such  a  relation,  in  social  economy,  is  wise, 
providential,  and  beneficent — having  elevated  the  negro 
to  a  standard  of  civilization  which  he  never  attained 
before,  and  having  furnished  with  labor  millions  of  the 
superior  race,  and  clothed  more  than  one-half  of  civilized 
mankind. 

III. 

Slavery,  at  the  commencement  and  formation  of  social 
and  political  societies,  was  universal  as  civilization ; 
permanent  as  the  free  autonomy  of  nationalities ;  and 
constituted  an  integral  element  in  the  progress  and 
greatness  of  the  most  remarkable  governments  that  ever 
existed.  It  was  an  Egyptian  institution  before  the 
Pyramids  were  built  or  hieroglyphics  invented ;  so  in 
Syria  and  Assyria,  before  Babylon  or  Nineveh  arose  in 
splendor  and  beauty ;  and  in  Palestine  long  before  Abra- 
ham first  went  into  Egypt.  It  was  an  institution  of  the 
Indians  and  the  Chinese — of  the  Medes  and  Persians — 
of  the  Greeks  and  the  Phocnicans — of  the  Romans  and 
the  several  European  nations ;  certainly  as  universal  as 
law  or  order,  and  continuing  down  to  the  application, 
or  substitution,  of  the  mechanic  arts  for  the  performance 
of  that  brute  labor  formerly  exacted  of  man.  And  this 
economical  and  political  element  of  order  and  civilization 
in  society,  was  slavery  per  sc — the  subjection  or  con- 
strained obedience  of  white  men,  made  dependent  upon 
rulers  of  the  same  caste  and  race  with  themselves :  but 

RADICALLY  AND  TOTALLY  IN  CONTRADISTINCTION  TO  THE 
SUBORDINATE  RELATIONS  OF  THE  NEGRO  IN  THE  SOUTH- 
ERN States  of  America. 


4  CAUSE   AND    CONTRAST. 

It  is  not,  however,  our  intention  either  to  justify  or 
condemn  the  systems  of  labor  in  other  nations,  no 
matter  whether  remote  or  immediate  in  time.  To  jus- 
tifv  them  would  be  to  pronounce  opinion  from  imper- 
fect and  superficial  data ;  and  to  condemn,  would  be  to 
set  our  dicta  above  the  authority  of  the  wisest  and  best 
men  that  ever  lived — above  the  Divine  Saviour — above 
Moses  and  the  Patriarchs — Solon  and  Thrasybulus — 
Pythagoras  and  Socrates — Flato  and  Aristotle — Seneca 
and  Cicero — Athanasius  and  Augustine.  If  ancient 
slavery,  however,  as  is  now  alleged,  was  barbarism,  it  was 
inevitable ;  for  it  resulted  from  political  and  social  exi- 
gencies, and  the  necessity  of  progressive  life  in  public 
econom}r.  The  slaves  who  pastured  flocks,  herded 
cattle,  and  cultivated  the  soil,  were,  in  return,  protected 
from  injury  or  invasion  by  their  lords,  standing  ready 
•with  arms  in  their  hands.  The  benefits  and  hardships  of 
master  and  servant  were  then  mutual.  And  now  even,  it 
■would  not  be  an  uninteresting  investigation  to  contrast 
this  constrained  labor  of  the  ancients  with  the  "  volun- 
tary "  system  of  the  moderns ;  clearly  defining  in  what 
essential,  other  than  mere  form,  they  differ.  Certain 
it  is,  that  the  boasted  "freedom  "  of  the  modern  opera- 
tive is  as  much  nominal  as  it  is  real ;  since  the  poor  de- 
pendent of  the  present,  by  an  instinct  of  self-preservation 
and  family  affection,  is  compelled  to  labor.  He  is  free 
not  to  work,  it  is  true;  but  not  being  a  self-sustaining 
machine,  he  must  do  so  or  starve.  Being  a  creature 
of  Nature,  he  is  subject  to  her  laws  and  despotism. 
She  teaches  the  birds  of  the  air  and  the  beasts  of  the 
forest,  respectively,  to  nurture  their  young ;  and  by  a 
higher  development  of  the  emotional  affections,  she  rules 
man  in  the  same  direction.     He  is  her  predestined  slave, 


EGYPTIAN   SERVITUDE.  5 

in  proportion  to  the  delicacy  of  his  organism,  and  the 
refinement  of  his  intellectual  culture.  Often  poor  and 
without  means,  he  hires  his  services  for  a  fixed  remune- 
ration, with  which  to  purchase  nourishment  either  for 
his  parents  or  his  offspring,  or  both  ;  considerations  which 
devolved  as  imperative  duty  upon  the  masters  of  anti- 
quity. And  thus  the  toiler  of  to-day  is  in  reality  a 
slave ;  differing  only  in  appearance  and  degree  from  his 
brother-slave  of  other  systems  and  ages  past. 

IV. 

At  this  remote  period  of  time,  and  more  especially  in  a 
brief  and  cursory  view  of  the  facts*,  it  will  be  found 
impossible  to  present  either  a  full  or  minute  account  of 
the  relations  which  existed  between  master  and  slave 
in  ancient  nations.  What  we  can  derive  from  her  hiero- 
glyphic characters,  and  the  paintings  upon  her  tombs 
and  monuments,  is  the  principal  means  through  which  we 
can  glance  at  Egypt's  early  domestic  economy.  The 
preponderance  of  Egyptian  slaves  was  either  purchased 
from  barbarous  nations  or  conquered  in  war.  We 
behold  in  one  place  the  king  putting  them  to  flight. 
In  another,  we  see  an  officer  registering  and  arranging 
them  into  separate  classes — adults,  women  and  minors. 
That  they  were  generally  foreigners  we  know,  from  the 
fact  that  it  was  the  boast  of  the  Pharaohs,  that  in  the 
erection  of  the  Pyramids  and  public  monuments  no 
Egyptian  hands  were  employed.  And  Gesche  (the 
Goshen  of  the  Bible),  of  which  Ileliopolis  was  the  capi- 
tal, and  Moses  one  of  the  priests,  was  the  district  allotted 
to  the  Israelitish  bondsmen  and  their  families.  The 
slaves   of    Egypt   were   employed    in    all    occupations, 


0 

Mid  dom<  stic  :  i  or  '1"  they  Beem  to  ha\  e 

•  1 :  although  the  mister,  mistress  and 

rally  represented  as  wielding  the  lash  while 

rintending  them.     This  instrument,  however,  should 

led  in  the  anexpreBsive  language  of  pictorial  his- 

.  merely  as  the  insignia  of  authority.    For,  on  the 

contrary,  upon  a  monument  "f  Thebes,  there  is  a  picture 

1  by  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson,   representing  a  lady 

enjoying  the  luxury  of  the  bath  ami  attended   by  four 

female  slaws;  wheue  kimlness  on  the  part  of  the  former, 

ami  i  1  affection  on  that  of  the  latter,  are  clearly 

delineated.     And  when  the  .lews  planned  their   escape 

fr<'iu  the  land  of  bondage  to  the  land  of  promise,  did 

pi      stations,  in  borrowing 

from  their   Egyptian   masters  precious   vessels,  jewelry 

ami  gold)    That  system,  if  unjust,  could  not  have  been 

cruel,  under  which  t!  lent  valuables  toward 

tion  of  his  cunning  Blare. 

But        srery  Jews,  at  the  time  that  they  were  trans- 

1   from   their  home   into   Egypt,  and   indeed  long 

before   this  term  of  their   captivity,  were  slaveholders 

themselves.     And   when   they  returned   from   bondage 

under  Nehemiah,  one-sixth  of  the  people  were  at  once 

slaves  and  captives.     Abraham  had  his  male  slaves  and 

de  slaves;  and  Sarah  was  the  tyrannical  and  cruel 

mistress   Of   11  agar.      When    Rebecca,   married    Isaac   she 

carried  to  his  hpme  her  slave-damsels ;  as  did  Leah,  the 

wife  of   Laban,  and  Rachel,  the  spouse  of  Jacob.     The 

reduced   the  Gibeonites  to  "hewers   of  wood   and 

drawers  of  water;"  and  whilst  the  Hebrew  slave  (unless 

elected  the  contrary)  was  entitled  to  release  at  the 
year  .,('  Jubilee,  and  to  be  treated  during  his  bondage  as 

errant  and  sojourner,"  the  heathen  and  the  strait- 


HEBREW   SYSTEM.  7 

ger,  on  the  other  hand,  became  not  only  "  a  bond-man 
forever,"  but  the  "possession"  and  "the  money"  of 
his  master  and  owner.  Even  Solomon,  reputed  to  have 
been  the  wisest  of  men,  a  son  of  David  (who  was  a  man 
according  to  God's  heart)  and  a  direct  ancestor  of  Christ 
— according  to  Matthew,  the  Evangelist — was,  if  judged 
by  our  modern  international  law,  a  common  pirate ;  for 
his  ships  on  the  sea  of  Tarsus  exported  all  sorts  of  mer- 
chandise to  exchange  for  "  ivory,  apes  and  Ethiopians." 
And  when  the  Saviour  of  Mankind  was  upon  earth, 
inculcating  lessons  of  wisdom  in  the  alleys  and  dark  ways, 
on  the  mountains  and  highways,  he  not  only  acquiesced 
in,  but  approved  of,  such  institutions,  and  healed  the 
Centurion's  slave ;  even  as  the  apostle  Faul  returned  to 
his  Christian  master  the  fugitive,  Oncsimus. 

But  we  feel  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  farther  upon 
this  subject.  The  question  of  Hebrew  slavery  has  re- 
cently been  fully  and  thoroughly  examined  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Van  Dyke,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  by  the  Rabbi 
Raphall*  of  New  York  city ;  each  of  them,  in  an  elo- 


*  The  influence  exercised  by  abolitionism  upon  the  best  minds  of 
the*  North,  is  peculiarly  mournful.  The  "Bible  View  of  Slavery,"  a 
sermon  preached  by  Dr.  Raphall,  on  the  day  of  National  fa^t,  Jan.  4, 
1861,  is  certainly  the  most  scholarly  and  conclusive  discourse  written 
by  any  divine  of  his  section.  Yet,  after  invoking  "  the  Father  of 
Truth  and  Mercy  to  enlighten  his  mind,"  in  his  terror  of  the  anti- 
slavery  Moloch,  he  utters  strange  blasphemy.  "  My  friends,"  says 
the  sapient  Rabbi,  "I  find,  and  I  am  sorry  to  find,  that  I  am  deliver- 
ing a  pro  slaTi  ry  dkeoorae.  I  am  no  Mend  to  slarery  in  the  abstract, 
and  still  less  friendly  to  the  practical  workings  of  slavery.  But  I 
stand  here  as  a  teacher  in  Israel ;  not  to  place  before  you  my  own 
feelings  and  opinions,  but  to  propound  to  yon  (HI  WOES  of  <iO|).  the 
Bible   I  tvsry."     A  Tainmany  politician  would  scorn  to  stultify 

himself  thus.     The  Doctor  absolutely  sets  his  own  witdoui  above  that 


8  OAUBl    ANI>    CONTRAST. 

qucnt  sermon,  clearly  maintaining  that  the  .Tows  did  not 

-  contrary  to  the  laws  of  Nature  or  of 

G     I.      And.   indeed,    their   task   was    easy   and 

utrovertible,  since,    in    addition    to    the   old    Jewish 

too  law,   the   laws  given   by    Moses   t<>  the   Jews 

drawn  from  the  Egyptian  Bystem  of   polity,  but 

purified  by  the  Hebrew  Theogony. 


SLAVERY,  assumed  in  India  a  religious  as  well  as  a  politi- 
cal character.  The  labors  of  the  slave  were  lightened 
and  alleviated  by  a  spiritual  resignation  «»f  Faith.  lie 
believed  that  at  the  creation,  although  Bprung  from  the 
Deity,  his  condition  of  life  was  immutably  fixed.  All 
men,  according  to  Menu,  are  divided  into  four  classes; 
the  first  of  which  sprang  from  the  mouth  of  God  and  arc 
gifted  to  rule  and  to  sacrifice.  The  second,  born  of  His 
arm,  are  endued  with  the  strength  to  fight  in  defence  of 
the  other  classes.  The  third,  or  the  children  of  His 
abdomen  arc  allotted  to  agriculture,  traffic  and  trade. 
Tl      fourth  were  the  offspring  of   His  feet,  and    naturally 

(loomed  to  servitude,  T.ut  this  predestination  of  the 
r  does  not  seem  to  have  been  regretted;  for  to  serve 
a  Brahmin  was  esteemed  both  laudable  and  honorable. 
Aside  from  this  classification,  however,  there  was  a 
Hindoo  code  under  which  slaves  were  made  by  voluntary 
sale;  by  Bale  of*  children;  by  servile  birth;  by  marriage 
to  a  slave;  by  sale   for  debt;  and  by  captivity  in  war. 


1.  Like  an  obedient,  but  hypocritic.il  Fervant,  lie  preaches 
abroad  the  «"!<1  and  will  of  bis  Master;  but  he  "is  sorry"  for  doing 
it!      [|  nut  this  Abolition  blasphemy? 


INDIAN   SYSTEM.  9 

So,  also,  'were  persons  committing  crimes  against  nature 
or  society  (entailing  forfeiture  of  life  in  other  nations), 
reduced  to  slavery.  This  continued  until  Mohamme- 
danism predominated,  and,  as  usual  with  that  power, 
introduced  its  own  innovations ;  recognizing  but  two 
sources  of  slavery — captive  infidels  and  their  descendants. 
Such  slaves  were  subject  to  all  the  laws  of  sale  and  in- 
heritance. They  could  not  marry  without  permission 
from  their  masters ;  nor  be  parties  to  a  suit ;  nor  bear 
testimony  in  Courts  of  Justice  ;  nor  inherit  or  acquire 
property;  nor  be  eligible  to  any  office  of  trust  or  emolu- 
ment. But  in  1793,  British  power,  through  the  agency 
of  the  East  India  Company,  modified  all  this,  declaring 
that  "  Mohammedan  law,  with  reference  to  Mohamme- 
dans, and  Hindoo  law  with  reference  to  Hindoos,"  were 
henceforward  to  be  regarded  as  the  general  rules  of 
Indian  jurisprudence  ;  thus  recognizing  by  one  enactment 
two  systems  of  slavery  in  the  same  country. 

VI. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  name  a  people,  no  matter  of  what 
ethnic  origin  or  affinity,  who  were  not  slave-owners;  and 
with  whom  slavery  was  not  one  of  the  earliest  institu- 
tions. It  seems  to  have  been  the  natural  relation  of  the 
weak  to  the  powerful — of  the  captive  to  the  conqueror — 
of  the  dependent  to  the  opulent.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
it  was  ever  founded  upon  any  statutory  enactments,  but 
existed  rather  by  prescription  ;  since  its  origin  was  ante- 
cedent to  history  or  tradition.  Thus:  It  is  almost  cer- 
tain, and  if  not  quite  certain,  decidedly  probable,  that  the 
primitive  inhabitants  of  Susiana — Elamites,  doubtless — 
were  conquered  by  llamitcs  and  reduced  to  a  condition 


10  0AV8I    AND    CONTRAST. 

rvitnje.     T    -  Samite  race  wrested  Babylonia  from 

tin-  M<  dian  Scyths — a  mixture  of  Japhetic  and  Turaunian 

— twenty-three  centuries  before  Chiist.     According 

to  B  after  a    reign   of   -">s    Years,   these   Ilau.ite 

conquerors  were  in  turn  superseded  in  power  by  emigrants 

from  Suaiana — the  founders  of  the  great  Chaldean  Em- 

-  usual,  became  the  servants  of  the 

lerors.  It  was  at  this  period  that  the  Exodus  of 
Abraham  took  place — when  the  Hebrew  patriarch,  with 
hi>  household,  marched  from  Chaldea  to  Palestine — and 
when  the  Pho&nicana  emigrated  from  the  Persian  Gulf 
to  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean ;  each  carrying  with 
them  the  precious  institution  of  slavery.  It  was  at 
this  period  that  Semitic  tribes  displaced  the  Cushite 
inhabitants  of  the  Arabian  peninsula;  that  Assyria  was 

ming  occupied  by  tin-  Semitic  settlers  "f  Babylonia; 

and  that  the  eastern  frontier  of  Syria  was  in  course  of 

occupation  by  Aramaeans— aft  <ni<{  <<(<■/<■  of  whom  had 

■  n,. I  slavery.     And  when  Arabian  supremacy  was 

lished    in  the  Chaldean    Empire,  no    less  than    when 

the  -cat  < .f  empire,  in  tin'  13th  century  lb  <'.,  was  again 
transferred  to  Assyria — amid  all  vicissitudes  of  time,  and 

war,  and  change,  slavery  continued  the  same ;    no  matter 

what  people  or  race  might  rule. 

The  autonomy  <>f  the  latter,  and  the  greater  Assyrian 
Empire,  oontinued  at  least  during  six  centuries;  and  the 
palaces   and   temples   of   Sardanapalus — the   palace   at 

Nineveh  of  Shalmanubar;  he  of  the  Black  Obelisk — the 
palace  "I"  Sargon,  at  Khorsabad — the  many  and  magnifi- 
cent palaces  of  Bsar-haddon ;  the  wonderful  hunting 
palace  of  his  successor — would  be,  (if  we  had  not  the 
ony  "f  the  Bible  even  to  guide  us,)  no  silent  wit- 
nesses  to   the   wisdom,  extent,  importance,  utility,  skill 


ASSYRIAN   SLAVERY.  11 

and  intelligence,  of  that  system  of  labor  which  mainly 
contributed  toward  their  execution.  The  slaves  and  cap- 
tives whom  it  was  unnecessary  to  employ  upon  the  public 
works  were  colonized  abroad.  Thus  the  Chaldeans  were 
sent  into  Armenia ;  the  Jews  and  Israelites  into  Assyria 
and  Media;  and  the  Babylonians  and  Susianians,  into 
Palestine.  And  yet  these  Assyrian  slave-dealers  and 
slave-owners — it  will  seem  incredible  to  the  unen- 
lightened— were  in  all  the  elements  of  civilization  and 
advancement,  if  we  except  a  barbarous  religion  and 
savage  passions,  very  nearly,  if  not  completely,  upon  a 
par  with  our  own  boasted  progress. 

Out  of  the  ruin  of  the  Assyrian  Empire,  it  was,  that 
the  later  Babylonish  Empire  arose,  in  brilliant  but  brief 
splendor.  When  Saracus  was  betrayed  by  Nabopolassar, 
his  General  and  the  father  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  Josiah, 
King  of  Judea,  was  tributary  to  the  Assyrian  ;  and  in 
the  division  of  the  empire  between  Cyaxares,  the  Mede, 
and  Nabopolassar,  Judea,  Syria,  Phoenicia,  &c,  fell  to 
the  lot  or  choice  of  the  latter.  Nineveh,  of  course,  was 
taken  and  destroyed ;  the  bulk  of  the  people  became 
captives,  and  were  equally  divided.  With  these  cap- 
tives, remarkably  advanced  in  a  knowledge  of  the  fine 
arts,  and  especially  of  architecture,  it  was,  that  Nabo- 
polassar commenced  the  magnificent  works  which  Nebu- 
chadnezzar completed.  When,  however,  the  Egyptian 
king,  Necho,  made  war  upon  the  former,  defeated  Josiah 
and  put  his  elder  brother  Jchoiakim  upon  the  throne, 
Nebuchadnezzar  went  out  against  him  and  drove  him 
back  into  Egypt.  During  his  absence  Nabopolassar 
died,  and  Nebuchadnezzar,  followed  by  captive  Jews, 
Phocnicans,  Syrians  and  Egyptians,  returned  to  assume 
the    government.     These    captives   he    distributed    over 


U  0AT781    ANI>    CONTRAST. 

B  bylon;  the  great  number  of  which, 
when  added  to  the  prisoners  of  his  father,  . 
him  oommand  of  that  power  whiob  enabled  him  to  con- 
lammate  those  great  works  that  wore  then  among  the 
wonders  of  the  world,  and  the  ruins  of  which  excite  t lie 
mingled  awe  and  admiration  of  the  present  generation. 
With  this  Blave  labor  he  built  the  great  outer  wall  which 
fortified  his  capital :  it  was  130  square  miles,  80  feet 
wide,  and  from  three  to  four  hundred  feet  high — cmbrac- 

x(  twi,  hundred  millions  yards  of  solid 
tM90nry !      Inside    of    this,   there    Was    another    wall   of 

nearly  equal   importance.     He   had   built   in   seventeen 

splendid  palace,  the  ruins  of  which  are  still 

extant.     He  had  built  or  rebuilt  all  the  cities  of  upper 

Babylonia,  and   Babylon   itself.     He  had  dug  immense 

canals;    formed  aqueducts  ;   raised  pyramidal  temples  and 
other    saored    shrines:   made    hum  ervoirs  J  built 

quays  and  breakwaters;  and  constructed  the  wonderful 
.  ing  gardens  of   Babylon.     But  during  the  construc- 
tion of  these  work-,  the   •'  Ited   three  times;   and 

in  t!  of  one  of  their  kings,  Zedekiah,  Jerusalem 

was  invested — destroyed — and  the  bulk  of  its  inhabitants 

made    to   swell    the    captiv.  -    of    Nebuchadnezzar.      With 
this  immense  additional  senile  population,  he    continued 
mbellisfa  his  capital,  and  to    prosecute    the   construc- 
tion of  works  for  public   utility.      After  a  reign  of  forty- 
thne  years,   Nebuehadiie/./.ar  died,  leaving  the  crown  to 
ESvil-Merodach.     The  successor  of  this  prince 
witnessed,  doubtless,  the   opening   of  that   devolution, 
which,   by   the  overthrow   of   Astyagcs,  established    the 
great  P       ao   Empire  under  Cyrus.     At  any  rate  one  of 
his    successors,  Nabonadius,  entered    into  alliance    with 
118,  the  Lydian,  which  finally  resulted  in  the  capture 


LYDIAN    SLAVERY.  13 

of  Babylon,  then  in  charge  of  Belshazzar ;  for  Nabo- 
nadous  was  at  Borsippa.  This  latter  city  soon  shared 
the  fate  of  the  capital,  and  with  it  the  old  Chaldean 
Empire  fell  under  the  dominion  of  the  victorious  Per- 
sian ;  and  master  and  slave  alike  became  the  captive 
property  of  the  victor. 

Lydia  first  arose  to  importance  under  the  reign  of 
Gyges.  It  was,  however,  once  previously  invaded  and 
overrun  by  the  Cimmerians,  who  reduced  a  portion  of 
the  inhabitants  to  a  condition  of  servitude.  These  Cim- 
merians were  themselves  fugitives  that  fled  from  before 
the  more  victorious  Scyths,  leaving  many  of  their  breth- 
ren behind  in  captivity.  But  during  the  reign  of 
Sadyattes,  the  Cimmerian  power  in  Lydia  began  to  de- 
cline ;  and  by  Alyattes,  his  successor,  they  were  either 
extirpated  or  reduced  to  slavery.  A  war  of  greater 
importance  soon  ensued  ;  Alyattes  became  engaged  with 
Cyaxares,  the  Mode,  by  whom  L}rdia  was  invaded.  The 
war  continued  six  years  with  doubtful  issue;  but  always 
resulting  in  slavery  to  the  respective  captives.  At  length 
an  eclipse — supposed  to  have  been  that  of  Thales — put 
an  end  to  the  war;  and  Alyattes  spent  the  remainder  of 
his  reign  in  peace,  or  in  the  erection  of  his  mammoth 
sepulchre — equal  in  grandeur  to  the  best  Egyptian  pyra- 
mid— by  the  diands  of  his  captives  and  "  the  tradesmen, 
handicraftsmen,  and  courtezans  of  Sardis." 

The  conclusion  of  this  war  between  the  contending 
powers,  was  also  the  commencement  of  a  strict  alliance 
between  the  Lydians  and  the  Medea.  The  latter  was  a 
branch  of  the  great  Arian  family,  and  closely  allied  in 
language  and  lineage  to  the  Persians.  Their  manners 
and  customs,  and  still  more  their  institutions,  were  not 
radically  dissimilar.     The   Medcs  under   Cyaxares,  it  is 


14  Si:    AM'    CONTRAST. 

libly    conjectured,    commenced    tlicir   migration   by 

om    Khorasan;  passing    along   the    mountain 

chain   louthnf  the  Caspian  Sea;  entering   Media;  con- 

qnering  the  Scythe;  blending  with  a  portion  of  them, 

to  servitude,  and   precipitating  the  nn- 

ible  upon  the  Assyrians;  which,  finally,  resulted  in 
the  overthrow  and  destruction  of  the  empire  of  the  latter. 
Within  eight  or  nine  years  of  the  establishment  of  Ins 
I  in    Media,  Cyaxares  was  master  of  Nineveh.     In 

this  enterprise  he  was  assisted,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the 

rous  General  of  Saracus,  Nabopolassar.  Babylon 
I       me  not  only  sovereign  and  independent,  but  aggres- 

iiid  conquering — always  in  alliance  with  Media; 
and.  by  the  peace  <>f  the  latter  with  Lydia,  a  triple 
alliance  followed,  embracing  the  Babylonish  power.  This 
alliat  cemented    by   royal   intermarriages,   and 

I  about  fifty  years.  The  allied  kingdoms,  however, 
continued  respectively  to  absorb  some  lesser  surrounding 
powers,  and  to  reduce  their  inhabitants  to  servitude. 
,\  •    length    tl  an    irruption   under   Cyrus   came. 

Babylon  was  leveled  with  the  dust,  and  the  pride  of  her 
allies  subdued.  Again  the  proud  masters  of  Babylonia, 
Media  and  Lydia,  in  the  uncertainty  and  vicissitudes  of 
the  times,  became  the  captives  of  the  Persian — the 
slaves,  in  fact,  of  the  conquering  Pasargaahu,  Maraphii, 
and  Achsemenidm ;  for  with  them,  as  with  all  othefr  domi- 
nant races,  slavery  was  a  civil  and  religious  institution. 

'J  nus   we   sec,  that  during   the  greatest  period  of  the 
world's  history,  so  long  dim  and  obscure  to  human  knOW- 

,  and  only  partially  and  imperfectly  revealed  to  US 
HOW,   by   the    light    of    modern    research    and    criticism, 

ry  wot  th>-  invariable  and  universal  superstructure 
of  all  soriii  and  political  systems. 


GREEK    SERVITUDE.'  15 


VII. 


The  ground  over  ■which  we  have  hitherto  trodden,  has 
been,  until  recently,  deemed  prc-historic ;  but  now  sve  are 
to  enter  that  plastic  region,  where  the  light  of  history 
first  begins  to  grandly  shine — where  man  reached  his 
highest  development — 

"Where  grew  the  arts  of  war  and  peace, 
Where  Delos  rose  and  Phoebus  sprung;" — 

the  renowned  and  lovely  classic  soil  of  Greece.  Yet  is 
the  morning  of  her  history  but  dimly  revealed  to  us  by 
her  poetry  and  myths.  Her  noble  songs  and  unrivalled 
epics  and  dramas  are  her  earliest  histories.  Her  poets — 
inspired  men,  who  stood  forth  to  reveal  the  past,  to 
explain  the  present,  and  to  make  known  the  future — 
were  her  original  historians.  And  their  theme  was 
usually  divinely  exalted — their  gaze  attracted  by  the 
heroic  legend  and  the  splendid  action,  rather  than  by  the 
petty  transactions  of  slaves ;  excepting  when  it  became 
necessary  to  illustrate  noble  deeds  by  little  ones.  Hence 
it  is  difficult  to  always  arrive  at  a  correct  idea  of  the 
early"*econoray  of  her  little  States. 

In  Greece  lots  of  arable  land  were  parcelled  out  to 
certain  individuals,  with  carefully  marked  and  jealously 
■watched  boundaries;  but  the  greater  portion  of  the 
country  was  devoted  to  pasturage.  Cattle  formed  the 
main  item  of  wealth.  These  were  tended  by  bought 
slaves  or  poor  hired  freemen,  called  in  Attica, 
The  slaves  upon  whom  this  trust  devolved  ••>  rally 

high  in  the  confidence  of  their  masters  ;  Eumaeus,  the 
swine-herd  of  Ulysses,  and  himself  the  son  of  a  king, 


1G  0AU81    AND    CONTRAST. 

a  fair  typo  of  his  class.     Indeed,  those 
slavi  under  their  control,  as  auxiliaries,  sub- 

ordinate Blaves,  who  were  treated   in  a  manner  neither 

h  nor  cruel.  Their  condition  was  little,  if  :it  all, 
than  that  of  the  Thdtes;  who,  nominally  free,  but 
owning  do  land,  wandered  about  from  one  temporary  job 
to  another;  generally  contented  if  during  the  harvest 
or  other  busy  seasons  they  could  give  their  labor  in 
exchange  for  food  and  clothing;  and  not  unfrequ 

ring  away  their  freedom  for  the  more  permanent 
and  seem''  pri  t  ction  of  a  master. 

The  Constitution  of  Sparta — ami  especially  the  Code 
of  Lycurgus — rendered  slavery  an  absolute  necessity  to 
the   Si  By  this  ("ode  all  distinction  of  rank  as  be- 

n    Spartan  citizt  nt  was   abolished.     The  design  of 

rreat    law  giver   was   to   elevate   rather  than   dej 

his  fellow-countrymen.  Lacedaemonians,  politically 
Bidered,  were  to  be  regarded  upon  a  footing  id'  perfect 
and  complete  equality;  they  were  to  he  as  members  of 
one  family — as  children  of  the  same  roof.  The  exeroise 
of  mechanism,  or  even  of  agriculture,  was  imperatively 
prohibited  to  the  free.  Every  Lacedsemonian  was  re- 
quired to  live  up  Btrictly  to  the  standard  of  a  modern 
nobleman   or   aristocrat,  and   to  cultivate   the  spirit  of 

chivalry    ami    patriotism.      Hence,     -laves     and     slavery 

ary,  general,  and  numerous.     Thellelotisin 

of  Sparta,  however,  Beems   to   have  been  the   severest 

mi  of  ancient  involuntary  labor.    It  was  peculiarly 

marked  out  for  censure  by  many  able  Athenians;  and  its 

no1  only  gio.-sly  exaggerated,  hut  shamefully  mis- 
represented.  It  would  ho  difficult,  indeed,  to  name 
another  rustic  population  which  enjoyed  greater  immu- 
nities   than    the    Spartan    Helots.      Their  hearths    were 


IONIANS   AND   DORIANS.  17 

inviolate.  Their  social  intercourse  was  free.  They  had 
a  fixed  and  moderate  rent-scale.  They  might  acquire 
property  by  industrious  exertions.  And,  were  it  not  for 
the  institution  of  the  Krypteia — the  existence  of  which 
is  uncertain  and  doubtful — their  condition  was  much 
superior  to  that  enjoyed  at  the  present  day  by  the  down- 
trodden peasantry  of  Europe. 

"Wherever  the  Ionians  or  Dorians — the  two  great 
branches  of  the  Greek  family — colonized,  they  carried 
along  with  them  the  parent  institution  of  slavery.  Thus, 
the  Argives  and  slaves  whom  they  denominated  Gym- 
ncsii,  and  resembling  in  their  condition  the  helots  of 
Sparta.  The  Konipodes,  or  dusty  feet,  of  the  Epidau- 
rians,  were  a  similar  class.  Regular  slavery,  upon  the 
basis  of  the  Athenian  constitution,  prevailed  at  Corinth 
and  the  Corynephori  were  the  bondsmen  of  Sycion.  In 
Crete — Crete  of  the  "  hundred  citie3  " — there  were  two 
kinds  of  slaves — slaves  that  were  the  property  of  the 
State,  and  slaves  that  belonged  to  private  individuals. 
In  Syracuse  their  number  was  proverbial,  and  their 
labor  caused  the  estates  of  the  nobles  to  yield  the  richest 
harvests  and  to  blossom  like  the  rose.  Megara  had  her 
slaves  and  slave  constitution  ;  and  the  Megarian  colony 
of  Byzantium  placed  the  Bithynians  in  a  condition  of 
Ilclotism.  The  Mariandynians  were  similarly  held  by  the 
icleans;  and  Thera,  with  her  colony  of  Cyrene, 
clung  to  the  old  Doric  usage.  Tarentum,  the  city  of 
Archytcs,  a  virtuous  Pythagorean,  had  her  slaves  and 
slave  laws ;  and  Crotona,  the  home  of  Pythagoras — the 
great  political  work  of  his  brain  being  her  constitution — 
was  precisely  in  the  same  relation.  All  of  these  consti- 
tute d  the  colonial  glory  of  the  Doric,  and  partially  of  the 
Ionic  races.  They,  like  the  parent  States,  were  great  in 
2  ■ 


1^  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

War,  great  in  peace,  great  in  commerce,  great  in  litera- 
ture and  the  fine  arts,  great  in  architecture;  matchless 
in  every  intellectual  development   which  advances  pros- 

;  ivilization,  and  the  glory  of  a  people.     They 

flourished   and  progressed   through  their  own  virtue  and 
lent  institutions,  including  that  of  slavery;  which 
was  among  the  primal  elements  of  their  happiness  and 
security. 

Y  t  it  has  been  confidently  asserted  upon  the  floor  of 
the  United  States  Senate,  and  upon  the  authority  of  one 
Gurowski,  an  itinerant  Russian,  that  "  slavery  was  the 
putrescent  mass  which  ruined  Greece."  The  early  voca- 
.md  limited  advantages  of  the  Senator  who  retailed 
this  bold  error,  constitute  the  best  apology  for  his  igno- 
rance. "The  Grecian  States,"  says  K.  0.  Miiller — an 
author  to  whose  profound  erudition,  great  labors,  and 
critical  perspicacity,  universal  scholarship  is  infinitely 
indebted — "either  contained  a  class  of  bondsmen,  which 
can  be  traced  in  nearly  all  the  Doric  States,  or  they  had 
slaves,  who  had  been  brought  either  by  captivity  or 
commerce  from  barbarous  countries;  or  a  class  of  slaves 
•was  altogether  wanting,  as  was  the  case  with  the  Fho- 
cians  and  Locrians.  Jiut  these  )iatio)is,  scanty  in  re- 
sources, never  attained  to  such  grandeur  and  power  as 

Sparta  and  Athens.  SLAVERY  WAS  THE  BASIS  OF  THE 
PBOSPBBITX  Or  ALL  COMMERCIAL  STATES,  AND  TVAS  IN- 
TIMATELY    CONNECTED    WITH    FOREIGN    TRADE."      "When 

Athens  was  at  the  zenith  of  her  glory  and  power,  she 
had  only  a  population  of  30,000  freemen,  while  her  slave 
population  was  over  400,000.  Her  fall  resulted  from 
political  demagogueisra,  perfidy  and  treachery.  And,  in- 
deed, the  decline  and  ruin  of  all  Greek  States  are  traced 
to  similar  causes — the  factious  contentions  of  heartless 


ROMAN   SLAVERY.  19 

politicians,  who  divided  and  distracted  the  people  by 
means  of  dangerous  and  glittering  abstractions.  With 
the  virtue  and  greatness  of  Greece,  the  institution  of 
slavery  was  fostered  and  prospered ;  but  when  the  philo- 
sophy of  Socrates,  Plato  and  Aristotle — advocates  of 
slavery — was  forgotten ;  when  the  moral  political  exam- 
ples of  Solon,  Aristidcs,  and  Pericles,  were  superseded, 
by  the  political  expediencies  of  professional  time-servers, 
tricksters,  and  place-hunters,  Greece  sank  from  liberty, 
splendor,  and  glory,  into  decrepitude,  chains  and  ruin. 


VIII. 

As  with  early  Greece,  so  with  early  Rome ; — her  social 
and  economical  history  is  shrouded  from  our  penetration 
in  the  thick  haze  of  myths,  poetry,  and  tradition.  But 
this  much  is  clear :  that  from  the  very  foundation  of  her 
society — coeval  with  the  regulation  of  family  relations — 
and  long  before  the  birth  of  her  poets  and  historians, 
slavery  was  one  of  Rome's  most  valued  institutions  ;  and 
continued  so,  not  only  until  the  Cross  was  erected  upon 
the  ruins  of  Paganism,  but  long  after  the  sceptre  of 
Rome  had  passed  beneath  the  triumphant  banner  of  the 
stranger  and  barbarian.  Indeed,  the  immutable  princi- 
ples of  justice  were  so  clearly  discerned  by  the  inflexible 
rectitude  of  the  Roman  mind,  and  so  sagaciously  applied 
by  the  wisdom  of  Roman  lawyers,  that  Christianity,  when 
supreme  even  in  the  Empire,  approvingly  adopted  the  old 
Roman  statutes.  That  sacred  religion,  whose  sanctity 
was  sealed  by  the  death  of  the  noblest  martyrs,  and 
whose  triumph  sprang  from  their  blood,  naturalized  as  its 
own  civil  ethics,  the  provisions  of  the  Roman  slave  code ; 
founded  as  they  were  upon  the  experience  and  accumu- 


20  CAUSE  AND   CONTRAST. 

latcd  wisdom  of  ages.  Throughout  the  "Code"  of 
Justinian  there  is  a  full  recognition  of  slavery — a  broad 
antl  un<iuestionable  distinction  made  between  the  Free 
and  the  servile — and  by  the  acknowledged  disqualifica- 
tion for  freedom  of  those  who  were  captured  in  war  ;  of 
those  who  sold  themselves  or  were  legally  sold  into 
slavery  J  and  of  those  who  were  of  servile  descent — a 
virtual  denial  of  natural  equality.*  Antoninus  placed 
the  life  of  the  slave  within  the  protection  of  the  law  :  the 
Christian  emperor  did  no  more,  but  candidly  ascribed 
this  boon  even  to  his  pagan  predecessor,  lie  rai 
the  law  of  Constantino,  which  made  it  homicide  to 
maliciously  kill  a  slave  ;  and  he  confirmed  the  law  of 
Claudius  against  the  abandonment  of  sick  and  useless 
Blares.  And  whatever  amelioration  was  effected  in  the 
condition  of  the  slave  under  the  laws  of  Justinian,  re- 
sulted from  a  spirit  of  policy  in  public  economy — as  they 


*  Professor  Taylor  Lewis,  in  liis  "reply"  to  a  sermon  of  Dr.  Van 

noticed  already  in  the  text,  rises  to  the  sublime  of  igaoi 

"The  Soman  servitude  was  hitter  enough,"  says  he,  "bat  still  with 

hope  [false  cant!  the   Roman   slave  had  no  right  to  'hope;1  in   this 

refl]  ■  i  i  he  mu  not  upon  a  level  with  the  negro  slave]  remaining  ;it  the 

bottom.     Emancipation  might  speedily  restore  the  douloa,  [This,  Pro- 

B  Greek  and  not  a  Roman  slave,  and  '  emancipation'  is  as 

much  the  privilege  of  the  negro  as  it  was  of  either  the  Roman  te\  vut 

ek  donlos,]  or  his  children,  to   the  level   of  society.     It  was, 

therefore,  a  better  thing  (sic)  than  this  Calhoun,  (!)  Hamitic  [This  is 

a  mere  theological  fancy,  and  not  scholarship  or  erudition,  Proi 

normal,'   endless,   hopeless,    to    which   no    year  of  jubilee 
or,  you  ought  to  know  that  you  now  tread  upon  Hebrew 
and  not  upon  Roman  ground,]  shall  ever  come." 

Now,  this  is  one  of  the  oracles  of  Northern  ignorance.     He  passes 
for  a  get  at  man  in  New  York.     We  have  quoted  from  him  but  three 
behold  the  oonfosion  of  foots  and  ideas!     When  the 
blind  lead  the  blind,  both  will  fall  into  the  pit. 


ROMAN   SLAVERY.  21 

expressly  set  forth — rather  than  from  any  promptings  of 
what  is  now  termed  evangelical  humanity.  The  life  of 
the  slave  was  protected,  but  his  political  inferiority 
sternly  fixed  and  asserted.  A  free  person  could  not  wed 
a  slave ;  and  this  distinction  was  fully  recognized,  nay, 
but  sanctified,  by  Christianity — the  Church  steadfastly 
and  persistently  refusing  its  blessings  to  such  unions. 
But  the  Church  went  still  further.  A  fugitive  slave, 
desirous  of  becoming  a  monk,  could  be  reclaimed  by  his 
master  at  any  time  during  his  three  years  of  probation. 
Leo  the  Great  opposed  the  promotion  of  slaves  to  the 
dignity  of  the  sacerdotal  office ;  because  that  the  Church 
might  thereby  become  a  refuge  for  contumacious  slaves, 
and  invade  the  rights  of  property;  and  because  such 
accessions  brought  discredit  upon  the  Clergy.  In  all 
cases  the  consent  of  the  master  was  an  imperative  neces- 
sity. But  a  measure  of  general  enfranchisement  was 
never  contemplated  by  the  greatest  and  wisest  of  Chris- 
tian writers,  philosophers,  law-givers  and  saints.  The 
trade  in  slaves  was  a  principal  and  recognized  branch  of 
commerce.  Man  was  marketable  ;  and  he  so  continued, 
until  the  decay  and  decrepitude  of  the  Roman  power, 
failed  to  supply  the  markets  with  hordes  of  conquered 
barbarians — until  Roman  glory  was  crushed  beneath  the 
F;iv;ige  heel  of  Vandal,  Goth,  Lombard,  Gaul  and 
Hun.  Long  after  this,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  the  laws  in 
relation  to  slavery  continued  to  be  the  same  in  effect  as 
in  the  previous  past.  Basil,  the  Macedonian,  was  among 
the  first  to  interpose  on  behalf  of  the  bond — claiming 
that  the  union  of  a  slave  with  a  free  person  ought  to  be 
sealed  by  the  Christian  sacrament  of  matrimony;  but 
more  than  four  centuries  elapsed  before  the  Christian 
Church  universally  conceded  what  Basil  advocated :  for 


22  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

in    the    thirteenth  century,  we  find  Nicetus,  Bishop  of 
salonica,  excommunicating  masters  who  refused  their 
slaves  the  privilege  of  being  married  in  the  Church. 

IX. 

Upon  the  ruin  of  the  Roman  Empire  the  power  and  do- 
minion of  the  Barbarian  arose.  That  Empire  once  com- 
prehended the  largest  and  fairest  portion  of  the  earth. 
But  when  Theodoric,  the  Ostrogoth,  was  crowned  King 
of  Italy,  the  glory  of  the  Empire  may  be  said  to  have 
passed  away.  Roman  dominion,  indeed,  still  prevailed; 
but  only  in  a  religious  sense.  The  Western  World  was 
rapidly  becoming  Christian  and  Catholic.  The  bishops 
and  missionaries  of  the  Church  were  all,  or  nearly  all,  of 
the  Latin  race,  and  spoke  the  Latin  tongue.  They  stood 
between  the  rude  barbarian  and  an  angry  and  exacting 
Deity,  as  mediators  and  intercessors — they  were  re- 
garded as  the  commissioned  advocates  of  the  sinner 
and  the  transgressor — men  of  delegated  holiness,  whose 
prayers  ascended  daily  before  Seraphim  and  Cherubim. 
It  was  natural  that  these  cultivated  men,  the  sole  de- 
positaries of  the  learning  of  the  times,  and  the  only 
advance  guard  of  Civilization  and  Christian  humanita- 
rianism,  should  become  the  teachers  of  barbarians  and 
the  moulders  of  their  actions.  And  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity rendered  them  bold,  fearless  and  generous.  As 
Ag&petus  confronted  the  Emperor  Justinian  and  his 
courtezan  queen — as  Silverius  defied  the  frowns,  threats 
and  persecutions  of  Belisarius  and  his  lewd  wife,  An- 
tonina — and  as  Pelagius  I.  stood  undismayed  before 
Totila — so  did  many  of  these  soldiers  of  the  Christian 
cross    peril    their  lives    in  the    cause    of  humanity  and 


BARBARIAN   SYSTEMS.  23 

civilization, — precipitating  themselves  between  savage 
men  and  their  victims,  until  by  sacred  lesson  and  ex- 
ample they  changed  or  modified  the  passions  of  the  bar- 
barians. They  became  the  reconcilers  of  hostile  races 
and  the  harmonizers  of  different  laws  and  customs.  For 
the  Barbaric  codes,  like  the  Roman  law,  recognized 
slavery  as  the  ordinary,  if  not  the  normal,  condition  of 
a  portion  of  mankind.  With  them,  as  with  the  Romans, 
man  was  merchandise.  But,  happily  for  mankind,  the 
captive  in  war  did  not  forfeit  his  life,  but  his  liberty,  by 
defeat;  otherwise  the  wars  of  the  whole  world  must 
have  been  wars  of  massacre  and  extermination.  The 
clergy  interposed  their  benign  religious  influence  on  be- 
half of  the  unfortunate,  and  soothed  or  ameliorated  their 
condition  by  overawing  the  cruel.  But  the  system  of 
slavery,  in  all  its  legal  essentials,  remained  the  same. 
It  was  too  permanently  and  too  universally  rooted — too 
firmly  founded  upon  principles  of  justice,  social,  religious 
and  philanthropic  necessity — to  admit  of  radical  change 
or  perceptible  disturbance.  The  capture  and  sale  of 
men  was  a  principal  branch  of  commerce  along  all  the 
shores  of  Europe.  Clovis  encouraged  the  sale  of  the 
Alcmanni ;  Charlemagne  that  of  the  Saxons,  and  Henry 
the  Fowler  that  of  the  sclaves — captives  from  whose 
ethnic  name  we  derive  the  term  slave.  Even  when  the 
slave  was  a  Christian,  if  his  domestic  or  family  relations 
were  secured  or  respected  by  law  or  usage,  the  boon  was 
due  to  religion  rather  than  to  any  theory  of  personal 
rights  or  humanity.  The  Lombards  acknowledged  the 
sanctity  of  the  marriage  contract  between  slaw-  :  bat 
marriage  between  those  belonging  to  different  owners 
was  strictly  prohibited  ;  nnd  by  the  Salic  law,  the  Blare 
who  married  without  consent  of  his  master  was  punished 


-I  CATSi:    AND    CONTRAST. 

|  BOlfied  mulct.  Nearly  all 
tlw  Barbarian  codes,  like  the  Roman,  prohibited  the  de- 
i  of  free  persons  with  slaves.  By  the  Salic 
■ad  Ripuaxian  laws,  the  freeman  who  married  a  slave, 
forfeited  his  freedom ;  and  where  a  free  woman  married 
a  slave,  hoth  were,  by  the  Lombard  and  Burgundiau 
statutes,  condemned  to  death.  The  Yisigothic  code  con- 
signed to  death  the  freewomen  who  married,  or  even  had 
intercourse,  with  her  slave.  The  Saxon  laws  declared 
the  like  penalty  not  only  against  free  persons  marrying 
slaves,  but  even  against  those  who  married  persons  of 
inferior  rank.  Unlike  the  Roman,  the  Barbaric  codes 
protected  the  ])crso?i  of  the   slave  because   he   was  pro- 

i.  All  injury  done  to  him  was  an  injury  to  proprrty 
rather  than  to  person  ;  and  the  master,  not  the  sufferer, 
received  the  compensation.  The  edict  of  Theodoric  pro- 
vide! that  the  murderer  of  another's  slave  should  furnish 
the  injured  master  with  two  slaves  instead.  Indeed,  the 
power    of  life    and   death   was   in   the   master's   hands; 

i,  according  to  the  codes,  he  had  a  perfect  right  to 
do  away  with  his  own  property.  The  Latin  Church 
zealously  labored  to  reform  this  savage  abuse,  by  en- 
deavoring to  have  the  Hebrew  code,  or  the  more  humane 
edicts  of  Antoninus,  Claudius  and  Justinian,  engrafted 
upon  the  barbaric  laws.  And  hence  (although  the  right 
of  life  and  death  over  a  slave  was  the  unquestioned  usage 
of  all  Herman  tribes  from  times  immemorial)  we  find  the 
provisions  <>f  the  Mosaic  law  embodied  in  the  Capitu- 
laries of  Charlemagne;  while,  under  Lothaire,  the  mur- 
derer <»f  a  slave  was  punished  by  penance  and  excommu- 
nication. The  fugitive  from  labor  and  servitude  became 
an  [shmael  on  the  face  of  the  earth.     It  was  criminal  to 

seal  him.     As  by  our  own  common  law  the  owner  of 


BARBARIAN    SYSTEMS.  25 

property  may  recover  it  wherever  he  finds  it,  so  the 
master  might  seize  his  slave  anywhere,  and  punish  him 
according,  to  pleasure.  The  churches  and  the  monaste- 
ries were  large  slaveholders ;  and  to  harbor  or  conceal 
the  runaway  slave  of  an  ecclesiastic  was  doubly  criminal. 
Yet  fortunate  was  the  fugitive  that  succeeded  in  seeking 
refuge  at  the  altar.  Before  he  was  restored,  a  promise 
was  exacted  from  the  master  to  remit  all  punishment. 
When  we  add  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  Abbott,  Alcuin, 
owned  ten  thousand  slaves,  some  correct  idea  may  be 
formed  of  the  extent  of  ecclesiastical  property  in  slaves. 
The  countrymen  of  Alcuin  furnished  the  slave  market 
with  many  of  the  most  precious  specimens  of  that  kind 
of  merchandise.  The  beauty  of  some  Anglo-Saxons, 
exhibited  in  the  Roman  slave  mart,  excited  the  compas- 
sion of  Gregory  the  Great,  and  led  to  their  conversion 
by  the  great  missionary,  Saint  Augustine.  The  Irish 
bought  Anglo-Saxon  slaves  extensively,  but  manumitted 
them  by  a  decree  of  a  National  Council  in  1172 — a 
principle  of  generous  humanity,  which  England  long 
afterward  rewarded,  by  conquering  and  enslaving  Ire- 
land. The  people  of  Northumberland  sold  their  nearest 
relatives,  often — according  to  the  venerable  Bede  and 
Williain  of  Malmesbury — their  very  children.  But  witli 
the  sway  of  William  the  Conqueror  came  Norman  vassal- 
age— when  the  native  master  and  slave  were  alike  com- 
pelled to  do  homage  to  new  lords.  At  length,  but  slowly 
and  gradually,  the  influence  of  the  Latin  Church — the 
amalgamation  of  races — the  relations  of  different  races 
to  each  other,  growing  out  of  conquest,  intercourse  and 
change  of  dynasties — the  final  establishment  of  the 
European  political  system — the  attachment  of  the  slave 
to  the  soil  in  the  character  of  serf — and  the  change  in 


26  CAUSE     AND    CONTRAST. 

rendered   slaves  taxable   property,  ami, 

urco  of  oppression  and  expense ;  all  these 

inflr..  gether  with  the   advances   made  w    the  dis- 

v  ami  application  of  the  mechanic  arts,  modified  the 

relations  of  master  and  servant.     Slavery  became  villein- 

Y<  t  their  condition  WM  one  DO<  much  improved  by 

change.  In  some  cases,  villeins  might  still  be  sold 
like  cattle.  In  other  instances,  they  could  only  be  sold 
with  the  freehold.  They  could  not  always  purchase  their 
own  liberty.  The  child  followed  the  condition  of  the 
father.  Like  all  other  species  of  property,  they  were 
inheritable.      They   could   not    be   admitted    as    witn< 

arts  (if  justice.  The  runaway  could  be  reco\ 
by  his  master  in  the  same  manner  as  he  would  recover 
his  horse  or  his  ass.  But  the  lord  had  not  the  power  of 
life  or  limb  over  his  vassal  or  serf.  And  when  Henry 
\  III.  and  his  characteristic  daughter,  Queen  Elizabeth, 
commenced  the  work  of  manumission  or  emancipation) 
they  did  so  through  no  philanthropic  or  religious  motive 

imply  to  replenish  their  empty  treasuries,  hji  telling 
freedoi/i  to  their  enslaved  vassals.  Another  reason  was, 
that  towards  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  the 
utility  of  the  negro  was  discovered  ;  and  it  is  to  this  dis- 
covery that  Enlgand  is  largely  indebted  for  her  present 
commercial  wealth  and  ascendancy,  as  well  as  for  the 
abolition  of  villeinage.  Upon  the  negro  question  wc 
shall  soon  enter;  but  whether — if  we  accept  the  securi- 
ties conceded  to  his  rights  of  person — the  condition  of 
the  Caucasian  vassal  has  been  improved  by  his  enfran- 
chisement may  w«ll  admit  of  some  doubt. 

One  country — one  people  rather — remain  to  be  spoken 
of — the    Moslems.     Long  before  Mohammed   was  born, 

ry  was  in  full  force  in   distracted   and  divided  Ara- 


MOHAMMEDAN   SLAVERY.  27 

bia — under  all  of  her  petty  kings  and  chiefs.  But  united 
by  Islamism — when  the  prophet  of  Allah  gave  to  her  the 
laws  of  Divine  revelation — slavery  became  firmly  fixed, 
perpetual  and  sanctified.  It  was  one  of  the  ordinary 
conditions  of  society,  and  it  so  continues  to  the  present 
day.  The  Koran  is,  when  regarded  in  its  religious 
authoritativeness  amongst  the  people,  an  eternal  edict  of 
servitude.  At  the  time,  however,  that  Mohammed  lived, 
wrote  and  fought,  slavery  was  an  universal  institution; 
founded  upon  the  principles  of  universal  laws ;  and 
hence,  in  the  wars  of  Christian  against  Moor,  many  cen- 
turies afterward,  which  were  inspired  by  dogmatic  zeal, 
the  system  became  not  only  increased,  but  debased. 
France  and  Italy  were  filled  with  Saracen  slaves.  In 
turn,  the  Saracen  markets  were  overflowing  with  Chris- 
tian captives,  offered  for  sale  by  Jewish  traders.  And 
this  example  was  copied  during  the  German  and  Sla- 
vonic wars.  So,  Venetian  ships  were  the  carriers  of 
slaves;  slavery  existed  in  Poland  while  Poland  had  life; 
and  when  nationally  dead,  Russia — where  serfdom  ex- 
isted from  the  foundation  of  the  Muscovite  Empire — 
revived  the  system  upon  her  corpse. 

X. 

It  was  not  a  sentiment  of  doctrinal  or  moral  humanity 
which  impelled  the  masters  and  owners  of  men  to  eman- 
cipate the  slaves  of  their  own  race  and  lineage.  For 
while  villeinage  prevailed  in  England — while  feudalism, 
the  maxims  of  the  old  Saxon  Constitution,  and  Danish 
and  Norman  customs,  were  yet  the  law  of  the  land,  the 
Church,  her  holy  fathers,  monks  and  friars — according 
to  the  secretary  of  Edward  VI.,  Sir  Thomas  Smith — 


28  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

interpose!  at  the  confessional,  and  in  the  ministry  of 
extreme  unction,  for  the  amelioration  of  the  condition 
of  the  servile.  But  on  behalf  of  -whom  did  these  holy- 
men  so  interpose  ?  Was  it  for  a  heterogeneous  race  ? 
^  afl  it  in  the  cause  of  savages  or  unreclaimed  heathens? 
Was  it  on  behalf  of  a  people  morally  and  physically 
repulsive,  and  intellectually  degraded  and  inferior,  whoso 
normal  and  characteristic  condition  was  that  of  servitude 
and  subordination  J  No.  It  was  on  behalf  of  English- 
men who  were  of  the  same  caste  and  race  with  their  mas- 
ters— descendants  of  Britons,  Danes,  Saxons,  Angles, 
Pictfl  and  Normans — men  who  were  of  the  same  com- 
plexion and  anatomical  structure  as  their  lords,  and  in 
whose  veins  coursed  the  kindred  blood  of  a  kindred 
lineage — men  whose  only  inferiority  was  artificial  and 
accidental,  resulting  from  inherited  poverty — and  men 
whose  progeny  were  destined  in  time  to  develop  the 
most  brilliant  intellectual  faculties  in  every  department 
that  sheds  glory,  or  fame,  or  immortality,  around  intel- 
lectual life.  Yet  when  emancipation  gradually,  bm 
tematically  commenced,  it  was  founded  upon  principles 
of  political  economy  purely.  As  we  have  seen,  the 
monarchs  sold  freedom  to  their  vassals.  In  the  posses- 
sion of  the  lord  they  wore  taxable  property,  and,  conse- 
quently, a  source  of  enormous  expense.  Philosophy  and 
mechanism  were  advancing;  the  policy  and  necessity  of 
exacting  brute  labor  from  man  was  receding.  Each  new 
discovery  in  science  and  the  mechanic  arts  gave  a  fresh 
impetus  to  the  progress  and  elevation  of  the  serf,  until 
at  length  the  ethics  of  public  economy  found  the  inge- 
nious susceptibilities,  refined  mental  organism,  and  in- 
ventive genius  of  the  Caucasian,  more  profitable  in 
guiding  the  helm  of  the  ship  and  directing  the  steam 


KEVOLUTIONS   OF   PROGRESS.  29 

engine  through  the  tunnel  and  down  the  rapid  grade, 
than  in  rudely  squandering  away  his  power  in  a  patri- 
archal manner,  whereby  the  fruit  of  his  labor  would  sink 
into  comparative  infinitesimal  insignificance.  The  Sun 
of  Civilization  was  rapidly  reaching  its  meridian  orbit. 
The  progress  made  in  useful  inventions  was  considerable. 
The  Spanish  armada  was  destroyed.  The  Dutch  broom, 
was  soon  to  be  swept  from  the  English  channel.  Bacon 
was  writing  his  Novum  Organum.  Shakespeare  was 
producing  his  noblest  tragedies.  Soon  the  Principia  of 
Newton  would  produce  a  revolution  in  mathematics  and 
astronomy.  The  Spirit  of  the  Age  was  marching  for- 
ward— onward  rolled  the  wheels  of  progress.  A  few 
more  years,  and  the  Caucasian  will  remove  the  burden 
from  off  the  shoulders  of  his  brother — the  steam  engine 
will  perform  the  labor  of  a  million  of  toilers — the  reap- 
ing machine  will  substitute  the  harvest  hand  in  the  har- 
vest field — the  cotton-gin  and  cotton  jenny  will  daily  do 
the  work  of  hundreds — the  sewing  machine  will  strip  of 
half  its  tragic  pathos  the  "Song  of  the  Shirt" — and 
international  codes  will  loose  their  former  stern  aspect, 
and  appear  more  gentle  and  benign.  No  more  shall 
the  captive  in  war  remain  the  captor's  slave;  because 
equality  of  intellect  and  race  among  the  peoples  of 
Europe  must  become  a  recognized  fact  of  international 
law  ;  and  because  the  improvement  made  in  war  engines 
and  instruments  of  destruction  renders  the  chances  of 
war  alike  equal  and  uncertain.  It  will  no  more  appear 
wise  or  rational  to  retain  and  support  a  captured  enemy 
upon  an  already  over-populated  soil.  Public  and  politi- 
cal economy  alike  forbid  it. 

Nevertheless,  the   physical   condition  of  the  European 
hirelings  and  servants  of  the  present  day,  is  but  little, 


30  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

if  anything,  in  advance  of  that  of  the  ancient  Villein. 
of  them,  ragged  or  barefoot,  toil  daily  for  a  pit- 
tance, not  sufficient  to  provide  their  half-starved  and  half- 
famished  families  with  the  scantiest  and  coarsest  food. 
I  nmstanees  have  altered,  indeed,  the  relation  of  mas- 
ter and  servant;  hut  the  nature  and  characteristics  of 
the  task-master  are  still  the  same.  The  distance  of  sym- 
pathy, mutual  dependence  and  kindliness,  which  sepa- 
rates the  cotton-spinners  of  New  England  and  the  iron 
masters  of  Pennsylvania,  from  their  operatives,  is  as 
great  as  that  which  separates  the  lord  from  his  vassal — 
iNri.MTEiA'  greater  than  that  which  separates  the  South- 
ern planter  from  his  negro  slave.  And  it  is  quite 
natural  that  this  should  be  so.  Property  is  precious. 
It  is  better  and  cheaper  for  the  employer  to  hire  for  a 
pittance  the  daily  laborer,  than  risk  the  life  of  his  val- 
uable slave  in  the  performance  of  menial  or  dangerous 
serviee.  Hence  we  find  the  Roman  freemen  ;  the  Athe- 
nian Thetes,  the  Spartan  Perio'ikoi,  frequently  exchang- 
ing their  liberties  for  the  protection  and  security  of  a 
master.  And,  indeed,  fortunate  would  it  be  for  the 
Wretched  operatives  of  the  manufacturing  towns  of  Eng- 
land ;  the  COal-minen  of  Cornwall  ;  and  the  stone- 
breaking,  ditch-digging,  dung-carrying,  half-starved, 
semi-nude,  bare-headed,  and  bare-footed  peasantry  of 
In  land,  if  such  a  source  of  refuge  were  still  left  open  to 
them.  But  no :  the  condition  of  the  modern  laborer 
differs  only  in  degree,  not  in  effect,  from  that  of  the 
vassal  or  the  slave.  He  is  still  a  craven  dependent. 
And  whatever  little  advantages  he  may  possess,  are  the 
fruits  of  science  and  philosophy,  rather  than  of  religion 
or  philanthropy  in  the  heart  of  his  master.  This  will, 
and  indeed  must,  continue  so,  until  labor  is  placed,  if  it 


POPULAR    ERRORS.  31 

ever  can  be,  upon  a  level  with  capital.  Perhaps,  by  the 
observation  of  particular  facts  in  the  general  law  of 
physics,  some  future  evangel  of  science  may  discover 
some  principle  of  mechanism,  that  will  place  the  toiler, 
socially  and  politically,  upon  an  equality  with  the  capi- 
talist; but  until  that  day  arrives,  surely  the  Caucasian 
has  room  enough  to  exercise  his  philanthropy  on  behalf 
of  his  crushed  and  down-trodden  brother,  without  Quix- 
otically spending  his  power  and  his  pity  on  the  side  of 
that  marked  and  debased  slave  of  nature  and  circum- 
stances— the  negro. 

Yet  this  is  one  of  the  crying  errors  of  the  present 
generation  of  would-be  liberators  and  philanthropists. 
They  build  their  arguments  upon  the  false  thesis,  that 
all  species  of  mankind  had  a  common  origin ;  and,  in- 
deed, were  or  are  the  children  and  lineal  descendants  of 
a  single  pair.*     Because  the  Roman  patriot  who  assas- 

*  "But  all  this,"  the  superficial  thinker  will  exclaim,  "is  contrary 
to  the  Mosaic  account."  He  must  really  pardon  us  for  differing  from 
him :  we  are  no  less  Christian  than  he.  Moses  never  intended  to 
have  the  negro  regarded  as  a  child  of  Adam  and  Eve.  The  Mosaic 
view  of  our  first  parents,  their  aspect  and  characteristics,  is  our  view ; 
and  is  fully  and  sublimely  expressed  by  the  inspired  Christian  poet — 
Milton: 

"Two  of  f:ir  nobler  shape,  erect  and  tall, 
native  honor  clad 
In  naked  majesty)  aeamed  lorda  of  all, 
And  worthy  sicnied  :  for  in  their  looks  divine 

imagt  of  tMbr  gtoriaut  MaJur  thont, 
Truth,  It  divine  and  pun, 

re,  l>ut  in  true  filial  fieuduin  placed; 
Wli  ithority  in  man ;  though  both 

[dal,  ai  tln-iT 
For  contemplation  he  and  valor  formed, 

He  tor  Sod  only,  and  sin'  Em  (Sod  In  him. 
His  fair  large  front  and  eye  sublime  declared 


CAUSE   AND    CONTRAST. 

siiia:  .   f"r  his  royal  aspirations,  could  sacrifice  a 

a  of  gladiators  for  dreaming  of  freedom — becaoM 
ror  who  boasted  of  Hampden,  Sydney, 
and  Locke,  could  ruthlessly  and  unscrupulously  trample 
under  foot  the  liberties  of  an  Irish  Celt — it  has,  by 
arguments  which  were  hoped  to  appear  analogous,  been 
held  squally  wrong,  oppressire,  and  tyrannical,  in  the 
Virginia  planter,  whose  chief  pride  it  is  that  he  lives 
under  a  fi  titution,  to  hold   hifl  African  servant  in 

subjection.  But  Lord  Macaulay — who  so  reasoned — 
should  not  have  forgotten  that  the  Gladiator  and  the  Celt 
equally  with  their  masters  children  of  Caucasian 
parents — that  in  their  veins  flowed  the  pure  blood  of  a 
superior  race — that  it  was  by  the  laws  of  captivity  or 
.  rather  than  of  conceded  degradation  and  infe- 
riority, that  they  were  held  in  subordination— and  that 
they  respectively  belonged  to  as  brilliant  and  creative 

branches  of  the  great  Arian  family  as  any  that  migrated 

irard  from  the  uplands  of  India.     It  is  to  the  fami- 

of    this   Arian  race — Scythe,   Gauls,  Franks,   and 

Germans — from    which    the    Gladiators   of    the    Roman 

amphitheatre  were  drawn,  (ami  from  which  the  Capuan 

SpartaCUS,  Was  a  fair  type),  that  we  are   largely  indebted 


Absolute  rule:  and  huarintliinc  foekt 

I  from  hit  pa  Imanlf/kuag 

.i<:/.  lut  nut  beneath  his  shoulders  broad; 
sin-.  :i^  ■  veil,  down  t<>  the  si>  neb  r  imM 
■  , 
i.  imi  In  wanton  rtn 
A-  tin-  vim'  curls  her  tendrils." 

Now  let  the  reader  imagine,  if  he  can  conceive,  this  as  a  picture  of 
■  A  1 1 1 ii  mi. I   live;   or  lot  him  show  how  a  negro  race  could  pos- 
riblj  spring  rroa  Mich  parentage,    inn  the  reason  and  philosophy  of 
this  question  will  be  hereafter  mudc  apparent  iu  the  text. 


CAUCASIAN  GENIUS.  33 

for  much  of  all  that  is  sublime  and  beautiful  in  poetry 
and  the  plastic  arts — in  our  Gothic  architecture  and 
Gothic  civilization.  The  contributions  of  the  Irish 
branch  of  the  Celtic  family  to  history,  are  no  less 
famous.  The  Senate  of  no  other  nation  could  boast 
of  more  illustrious  statesmen  than  Burke,  Grattan, 
Canning,  Sheridan,  and  Palmerston ;  while  Curran, 
Plunkett,  O'Connell,  and  Shiel,  were  among  the 
brighest  ornaments  of  legal  eloquence  in  modern 
times.  The  writings  of  Swift,  Berkeley,  Goldsmith, 
and  Moore,  can  perish  but  with  the  use  of  the  English 
tongue ;  and  in  the  great  drama  of  military  skill  and 
undoubted  heroism,  surely  the  Irish  Celt  has  had  his 
share. 

What  analogy,  then,  can  there  be  between  the  Celt 
and  Gladiator,  and  the  African  negroes  of  Virginia  ? 
None.  The  latter  are  destitute  of  genius,  without  glory, 
non-nesthetic,  unprogressive,  sensual,  stolid,  indifferent; 
not  creative,  not  plastic,  not  homogeneous.  The  Cau- 
casian, from  the  humblest  beginning,  and  with  circum- 
stances and  opportunity  in  his  favor,  will  amount  to  the 
topmost  step  in  the  ladder  of  fame.  Deprived  of  the 
tutelage  of  the  white  man,  every  future  act  of  the  most 
civilized  negro  will  be  an  act  of  retrogression.  The 
Athenian  slaves  brought  up  the  rear  under  Miltiades 
at  the  battle  of  Marathon ;  and  they  bore  a  no  less 
distinguished  part  in  the  victory  of  Platrea.*  The 
Roman  slaves,  under  Tiberius  Scmpronius  Gracchus, 
beat  a    Carthaginian   army,  commanded  by  Hanno,   at 


*  "  Ten   thousand   Lacedaemonian  troops  held   the  right  win;- 
thousand  of  whom  were  S/mrtans ;  and   these   five  thousand    were  at- 
i   by  a  body  of  thirty-five  Ihouiand  helots,  who  were  only  light- 
armed — seven  to  each  Spartan." — Herodotus. 

3 


CAUSE     AND    CONTRAST. 

rentnm,  near  Cams,  during  the  Campanian  Mar. 
]'.  battle  of  Liberty  or  Civilization   has  never  yet 

fought  by  the  negro  race,  or  by  any  portion  of  it. 
Under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  the  negro  rarely 

in  distinction  above  being  the  keeper  of  a  Becond 
rate  saloon  or  livery  stable ;  nor  does  he  often  rank  so 
high  eveo  as  this.  He  is  ever  the  servant,  but  never  the 
ruler  of  men.     One  great   man,  a  negro,  the  world  has 

'■I  see.  Whatever  may  have  been  his  advantages, 
he  has  never  been  able  to  lift  himself  up  to  common- 
place, but  respectable,  mediocrity.  Not  so  the  Cau- 
casian, even  when  contending  against  the  grei 
obstacles.  Many  of  the  noblest  men  that  ever  lived 
sprang  from  the  humblest  grades  of  life.  Demosthenes 
was  the  son  of  a  cutler  ;  Epaminondas  was  born  in  pov- 
erty; the  father  of  Halley  was  an  humble  soap  boiler; 
Caius  Marios  was  the  child  of  poor  parents ;  Bunyan 
was  the  son  of  an  itinerant  tinker;  D'Alembcrt,  when 
an  infant,  was  abandoned  by  his  mother  upon  the  steps 
of  a  Catholic  Church;  Columbus  was  son  to  a  wool- 
oomber;  the  sire  of  De  Foe  was  a  butcher ;  Erasmus 
:i  1  istard  ;  and  Luther  was  son  to  a  poor  miner.  The 
birth  of  Shakspeare  was  humble,  indeed ;  and  hie  ad- 
vantages of  early  education  extremely  limited.  Even 
when  he  commenced  to  write  his  unrivalled  plays,  he 
had  recourse  to  the  crude  Chronicles  and  Romances  of 
other  and  indifferent  authors,  for  their  superstructure. 
Bat  whenever  the  Angel  of  Creative  Genius  passed 
through    the    grand    halls    and    corridors    of    his    mind, 

B  old  books  became  subject  to  a  new  birth — there 
was  thru  born  unto  man  a  rich  world  of  majestic  and 
universal  ideas,  magically  expressed  in  the  purity  and 
harmony  of  poetic  grace — Minerva-like,  springing  beau- 


CAUCASIAN   GENIUS.  35 

tlful  and  immortal  from  that  mind,  where  the  bees  of 
knowledge,  love,  and  wisdom,  seem  to  have  deposited 
their  honeyed  stores.  And  the  distinction  which  Shaks- 
pearc  won  in  the  Dramatic  Art,  was  equally  achieved 
in  various  departments  of  the  True,  the  Beautiful,  and 
the  Good,  by  other  noble  and  no  less  distinguished 
Caucasians.  The  same  spirit  of  heavenly  interposition 
which  pervades  Hamlet,  is  manifest  in  the  supernal 
paintings  of  Raphael  also  ;  in  the  sculpture  and  archi- 
tecture of  Michel  Angelo ;  in  the  poetry  of  Dante ;  in 
the  Masses  of  Mozart,  and  in  the  Symphonies  of  Beet- 
hoven ;  in  the  accumulated  wisdom  and  graceful  wri- 
tings of  Goethe ;  in  the  deep  meditations  of  Pascal,  and 
the  copious  eloquence  of  Bossuet ;  in  the  exalted  states- 
manship of  Edmund  Burke  ;  in  the  ineffable  grandeur 
and  beauties  of  Homer ;  and  in  the  self-sacrificing  mag- 
nanimity and  generous  patriotism  of  Washington. 

Now,  the  loss  of  any  of  these  Divine  men  would  leave 
a  vacant  niche  in  the  philosophy  of  mind  and  civiliza- 
tion; while,  so  far  as  intellect  and  its  results  are  con- 
cerned, if  the  whole  negro  race  were  obliterated, — if, 
indeed,  the  acts  of  every  one  of  that  species  of  mankind, 
from  the  days  of  Cheops  down  to  the  dark  reign  of 
Lincoln,  were  erased  or  forgotten,  Universal  History — 
only  in  so  far  as  they  constitute  a  link  in  the  perfect 
order  of  Nature — would  remain  the  same.  Let,  then, 
no  Caucasian  debase  himself  by  regarding  the  African 
negro  as  his  equal.  To  do  so  is  as  great  an  iniquity, 
as  if  he  were  to  seek  the  exaltation  of  an  equality  with 
angels.  His  natural  place  is  that  in  which  the  Ruler 
of  the  heavenly  and  earthly  dominions  has  placed  him 
from  the  beginning — at  the  head  of  .-ill  other  branches 
of  our  species.     Any  other  affinity  than  this,  would,  on 


CAUSE   AND   CONTRAST. 

his  part,  be  strangely  arbitrary  and  unnatural.  For  it 
would  be  a  most  difficult  effort  of  the  mind,  even  in  an 
abandoned  and  confirmed  white  abolitionist,  to  imagine 
ll-lv  Mary  or  St.  Cecilia. 
Again,  if  equal  to  us  in  organism  and  intellectual 
nts,  it  is  no  less  singular  than  remarkable} 
that  God  should  have  withheld  the  prophets  of  His 
\  1  from  being  of  their  race;  since  no  negro  Saviour 
<>f  Mankind — no  Socrates,  Isaiah,  Brahma,  or  Mo- 
hammed, has  yet  condescended  to  enlighten  the  world 
with  any  civilized  system  of  Theogony.  Even  in  the 
favorite  painting  of  Anti-Slavcryd<>m — Ary  Schrcfer's 
"  Christus  Consolator  " — the  negro  is  represented  as 
stretching  forth  his  chained  hands  for  deliverance  to 
that  Caucasian  Christ,  who  taught  "  slaves  to  obey  their 
masters;"  the  splendid  fiction,  of  course,  belonging  to 
the  French  poet-painter  rather  than  to  the  non-ivsthetic 
African.  And,  until  that  day  when  some  future  negro 
Solon,  Lycurgus,  Numa,  or  Alfred,  may  impart  to  his 
race  a  code  of  laws  that  will  reclaim  them,  and  give  to 
them  a  moral,  social,  and  political  status,  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth — until  that  race  becomes  actuated 
by  an  exalted  principle  of  self-preservation  and  advance- 
ment, rendering  its  members  plastic  and  homogeneous — 
we  must  certainly  be  excused  for  declining  a  participa- 
tion of  equality  and  amalgamation  with  them.  What- 
ever may  have  been  the  sins  and  defects  of  our  own 
.  its  march  has  been  ever  forward,  and  its  ambi- 
tiun  directed  heavenward.  Our  systems  of  slavery, 
even  if  unjust  in  the  abstract,  were  often  founded 
upon  principles  of  humanity — always  upon  the  exigen- 
cies of  nationalities,  social,  political,  and  economical 
necessity — and  finally  resulted  in  the  partial  unification 


NEGRO   CHARACTERISTICS.  37 

of  the  various  branches  of  the  Caucasian  family.  And 
as  a  combination  of  the  several  parts  in  the  machinery 
of  a  watch,  is  necessary  to  the  perfect  movement  of  the 
whole ;  so  it  is  that  from  the  commingling  of  these 
elements  of  a  common  origin  and  a  common  destiny, 
alone,  could  spring  that  fine  system  of  international 
polity,  which,  in  the  pride  of  our  vocabulary,  we  term 
The  Christian  Civilization  of  Christendom. 


XI. 

The  great  sandy  desert,  called  "  Sahara," — joyless, 
soundless,  lifeless — is  not  more  barren  of  objects  to 
instruct  the  naturalist,  than  is  the  negro  race  of  inci- 
dents interesting  to  the  historian  or  the  philosopher. 
Having  "  never  invented  a  reasoned  theological  sys- 
tem, discovered  an  alphabet,  framed  a  grammatical  lan- 
guage, nor  made  the  least  step  in  science  or  art" — as 
Hamilton  Smith  expresses  it — we  have  to  depend  upon 
observation,  and  the  writings  of  travellers,  naturalists, 
and  men  of  science,  for  information  relative  to  it. 
This  much,  however,  is  clear,  that  in  ancient  Egypt, 
two  thousand  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  the  negro 
was  there  as  he  is  here — as  he  is  and  has  been  every 
Where — the  servant  of  a  Caucasian  master.  "  Black 
people" — writes  the  eminent  English  Egyptologist,  Sir 
G.  Wilkinson — "  designated  as  natives  of  the  foreign 
land  of  Cush,  are  generally  represented  on  the  monu- 
ments as  captives  or  bearers  of  tribute  to  the  Pharaohs.*' 
This  distinguished  scholar  and  antiquary,  describes  also 
a  painting  in  a  catacomb  of  Thebes,  in  which  Amunoph 
III.  is  represented  seated  on  his  throne,  receiving  the 
homage  and  tribute  of  various  nations ;  among  them,  the 


38  QAUSl    AND    CONTRAST. 

black  chiefs  of  Cush  or  Ethiopia,  with  presents  of  rings 

,ious  stones,  "  cameleopards,  pan- 

and  long  horned  cattle,  whose   heads   art 

nted    with   ths   hands  and  luads  of 

(«."  This  savage  custom,  of  immolating  innumer- 
able victims  to  turn  away  the  wrath  of  Deity,  or  propi- 
tiate the  anger  of  a  barbarous  monarch,  as  we  shall  soon 
Bee,  still  prevails  in  negro-land.  As  was  natural,  the 
contempt  of  the  Egyptians  for  them  was  supreme  and 
ineffable.  Horus,  a  King  of  the  nineteenth  dynasty,  is 
delineated  standing  on  a  platform  Bupported  by  prostrate 
negroes;  and  in  a  Nubian  temple,  they  are  represented 
as  flying  in  the  most  abject  consternation  from  the  ven- 
geance of  Itamescs  II.  But  the  Egyptian  artists  were  not 
contented  with  such  displays  as  these;  they  chose  other 
symbols  to  express  their  contempt  for,  and  the  degrada- 
tion of,  the  negro.  In  another  Theban  painting,  he  is 
portrayed  in  an  attitude  of  servitude,  with  a  salver  in  his 
hands;  his  dress,  a  seamy  apron  of  the  coarsest  hide; 
and  the  ridiculousness  of  his  tout  enstmbU  heightened  by 

thr  addition  of  a  bob-tail.  Nor  was  it  his  good  fortune 
to  be  more  highly  esteemed  by  the  Arabs.  We  know 
from  that  incomparably  enchanting  book,  "The  Thou- 
sand-and-one  Nights,"  how  the  negro  was  regarded  by 
the  Moslems,  and  that  he  was  their  slave.  "May  Allah 
ace  the  blacks  for  their  malice  and  villainy,"  ex- 
claims Gh&nim,  the  son  of  Eyoub,  upon  overhearing 
Bakheet  tell  his  fellow-negroes,  that  they  would  "  roast 
ami  fit  "  any  of  the  whites  who  might  accidentally  fall 
into  their  hands.  To  his  inimitable  translation,  and  in 
particular  illustration  of  this  incident,  Mr.  Lane  ap- 
pended  this  note:  "I  am  not  sure  that  this  is  to  be 
understood  as  a  jest;  for  I  have  been  assured  by  a  slave- 


NEGRO   INFERIORITY.  39 

dealer  and  other  persons  in  Cairo,  that  sometimes  slaves 
brought  to  that  city,  are  found  to  be  cannibals  ;  and  that 
a  proof  lately  occurred  there — an  infant  having  been 
eaten  by  its  black  nurse.  I  was  also  told  that  these  can- 
nibals are  generally  distinguished  by  an  elongation  of 
the  os  coccygis  ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  they  have  tails." 
Thus  we  see  that  the  negro  was  equally  repul- 
sive to  the  ancient  Egyptian  and  to  the  modern 
Arab — that  his  animality  was  sternly  asserted  by 
each — and  that  what  the  Theban  painter  pictorially 
represented,  is  matter  of  general  belief  in  Cairo. 
In  fact,  the  opinion  that  a  certain  branch  of  the 
negro  family  was  adorned  by  an  elongation  and  out- 
ward curvature  of  the  os  coccygis  has  been  seriously 
entertained  by  some  eminent  sava?is,  and  denied  by 
many  others,  among  whom  we  may  name  the  distin- 
guished Soemmerring.  But,  be  this  as  it  may — and 
passing  the  anatomical  conformation  of  the  negro  over 
to  the  consideration  of  the  subject  in  the  succeeding 
section — the  inferior  light  in  which  he  was  regarded  by 
Arab  and  Egyptian,  will  be  matter  neither  of  wonder 
nor  surprise,  to  the  observer  of  the  African  in  the  Con- 
federate States.  Although  his  social  status  is  here  in 
advance  of  any  that  he  has  ever  before  occupied  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  yet  his  moral  and  intellectual  degra- 
dation, dependence,  and  subordination,  are  too  patent 
and  persistent  to  admit  of  doubt.  It  is  not  here,  how- 
ever,— where  he  is  comparatively  an  advanced  and  civil- 
ized being — that  we  are  to  search  for  the  genuine  charac- 
teristics of  the  typical  negro.  To  properly  understand 
him,  he  must  be  regarded  as  described  by  '^lightened 
travellers  and  naturalists;  and  the  opinions  of  such,  we 
will  extract  from  quotations  made  by  the  great  English 


40  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

champion  of  aggro  equality — Dr.  Jas.  Cowles  Priehard. 
roes  of  the  Gold  Coast  around  the  district  of 
ording  to  this  learned  author,  "are  ever  on 
the  watch  to  seize  the  wives  and  children  of  the  neigh- 
boring clans,  and  to  sell  them  to  strangers :  many  sell 
ilitir  own.  Every  recess,  and  every  retired  corner  of 
the  land,  has  been  the  scene  of  hafeful  rapine  and 
daughter,  not  be  excused  or  palliated  by  the  spirit  of 
warfare,  but  perpetrated  in  cold  blood  and  for  the  love 
of  gain."  Now,  this  is  the  unwilling  testimony  of  a 
friend  against  fro  *<Jt,  whose  cause  he  had  undertaken 
to  plead  and  vindicate ;  whose  descent  from  Adam  and 
Eve  he  started  out  with  the  predetermined  resolution  of 

lishing.  Not  so  the  Abbate  Bernardo  de  la  Fuente. 
lie  was  a  zealous  and  pious  missionary,  wholly  devoted 
to  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  and  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel ;  but,  regardless  of  consequences,  accus- 
tomed to  speak  the  truth.  Speaking  of  the  Pelagian 
negroes  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  and  particularly  of 
the  Nigta  tribe,  he  exclaims:  "  This  race  of  negroes 
seem  to  bear  upon  themselves  the  malediction  of 
] leaven.     They  live   in    the   woods   and  mountains  like 

t8,  in  separate  families,  and  wander  about  support- 
ing themselves  by  the  fruits  which  the  earth  sponta- 
neously offers.  It  has  not  come  to  my  knowledge  that 
a  family  of  these  negroes  ever  took  up  their  abode  in  a 
village.  If  the  Mohammedan  inhabitants  make  slaves  of 
them,  they  will  submit  to  be  beaten  to  death  rather  than 
Undergo  any  bodily  fatigue ;  and  it  is  impossible  cither 
by  force  or  persuasion  to  bring  them  to  labor.  Not  far 
from  my  mission  at  Buyunan,  in  the  Island  de  los  Negros, 
there  was  a  horde  of  negro  families  who  had  traffic  with 
some  barbarous  Indian  people,  and  were  by  these  given 


PELAGIAN   NEGROES.  41 

to  understand  that  I  counselled  them  to  receive  baptism, 
in  order  that  the  government  might  force  them  to  pay 
tribute  :  in  consequence  of  this  I  could  never  reclaim  one 
of  them,  and  I  believe  very  few  negroes  have  been  con- 
verted ;  for  I  only  found  the  name  of  one  in  a  register 
containing  the  baptisms  of  two  hundred  years."  This 
simple  and  candid  statement  reflects  honor  upon  the 
honest  sincerity  of  its  author.  Had  he  been  one  of 
Exeter  Hall's  disciples,  or  still  worse,  a  Yankee  mission- 
ary, we  would  have  heard  annually  of  the  dangers  which 
he  had  encountered,  and  of  the  numerous  miraculous  con- 
versions that  he  had  wrought ;  at  least  the  truth  would 
have  forever  remained  hidden  from  our  view.  The  cre- 
dulity of  the  great  mass  of  the  American  people  has 
long  been  disgracefully  imposed  upon  in  this  direction, 
by  the  false  reports  of  their  religious  emissaries  abroad. 
A  rational  system  of  theology  is  intellectually  impossible 
to  the  negro.  Naturally  and  instinctively  he  kneels  to  a 
Fetiche.  Even  when,  in  civilized  communities,  he  adopts 
a  noble  and  elevated  creed,  he  does  so  merely  as  a  matter 
of  imitation  and  formalism ;  for  it  is  usually  beyond  the 
sphere  of  his  reason  or  metaphysical  capacity.  But 
wherever  they  are  placed  outside  the  influence  of  the 
surrounding  circumstances  of  civilization,  the  conversion 
of  negroes  is  almost  an  impossibility,  and  their  faith 
becomes  savage  and  debased.  In  Western  Africa,  it  is 
notorious  that  they  worship  tigers  and  other  wild  animals 
of  prey — trees,  beetles,  and  insects.  The  best  fruit  of 
missionary  labor  in  their  midst,  according  to  Father 
Loyer,  is  to  induce  them  thus  to  pray  :  "  My  God  give 
me  this  day  rice  and  yams."  They  indulge  themselves 
in  human  sacrifices  even  at  that.  M.  Seclgrave  was  an 
eye-witness,  in  Old  Kalabar,  of  a  child  ten  months  old 


U  CAISE    AND    CONTRAST. 

j. d    upon  a  tree  with   a   living  fowl,  in 
or«l<  :  j.i tiatc    the    deity   and   cause   a    sick    king 

'•over  his  health.  And  it  may  not  have  escaped 
the  memory  of  the  reader,  that  the  King  of  Dahomeh 
iced  to  his  god,  out  of  gratitude  for  one  of  his 
victories,  four  thousand  Fidans,  causing  their  heads  to 
be  cut  off  and  piled  up  together  in  a  pyramid*]  heap. 
When  this   miserable  savage  died,  the  same  tragedy  wai 

acted,  but  upon  a  still  more  terrible  and  gigantic 
scale. 

No  less  cruel  or  barbarous  are  the  details  of  a 
Cannibal  Festival,  as  detailed  in  a,  letter  of  Rev.  Peter 
W.  Bernaske,  dated  "Whydah,  (Abomey),  November 
29th,  1860.  "On  the  eve  of  the  day,"  says  he, 
u  when  the  custom  was  to  commence,  the  whole  town 
slept  at  King's  gate,  and  got  up  at  5  o'clock  in  the 
morning  to  weep.  And  so  they  hypocritically  did.  The 
lamentations  did  not  continue  more  than  ten  minutes; 
and  before  the  King  came  out  to  fire  guns  to  give  notice 
to  all,  more  than  one  hundred  souls  had  been  sacrificed, 

Lea  the  same  number  of  women  killed  in  the  inside 
of  the  palace.  Ninety  chief  captains,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  princes  and  princesses — all  these  carried  out 
separately,  human  beings,  by  four  and  two,  to  sacrifice 
for  the  lute  King."  On  the  1st  of  August — a  few  days 
after  this  event — the  dusky  monarch,  with  a  funeral 
cortege,  came  out  to  bury  the  remains  of  his  father, 
with  the  following  living  things — "Sixty  men,  fifty 
rams,  fifty  goats,  forty  cocks,  drakes,  cowries,  &c.  The 
m<  ii  and  women  soldiers,  well  armed  with  muskets  and 
blunderbusses  for  firing ;  and  when  he  was  gone  round 
his  palace,  he  came  to  the  gate  and  fired  plenty  ;  and 
there  he  killed  fifty  of  the  poor   creatures  and  saved 


HUMAN    SACRIFICE.  43 

ten."  Fifteen  days  after  this,  the  missionary  was  sum- 
moned before  his  majesty,  when  he  beheld  upon  the 
palace  gate  "  ninety  human  heads  cut  off  that  morning, 
their  blood  flowing  on  the  ground  like  a  flood,  and 
the  heads  carefully  laid  on  swish  beds  for  public  view." 
Three  days  afterward,  he  saw  "  at  the  same  gate,  sixty 
heads  laid  upon  the  same  place ;  and  on  three  days 
again,  thirty-six  fresh  heads  in  the  same  position."  The 
king  had  four  platforms  erected  in  the  market  place, 
from  which  "he  threw  cowries  and  cloths  to  the  people, 
and  then  sacrificed  about  sixty  souls."  "  I  dare  say," 
continues  the  missionary,  that  "  he  killed  more  than  two 
thousand ;  because  he  kills  men  outside  to  be  seen  by 
all,  and  women  inside  privately.  Oh !  he  destroyed 
many  souls  during  this  wicked  custom."  Such  being 
the  normal  religion  of  the  negro,  who  will  wonder  that 
the  rational  theism  of  the  Abbate  Fuente  and  his  pre- 
decessors, should  have  fallen  as  vainly  upon  his  ears, 
as  the  harvest  seed  doth  upon  barren  rocks  ? 

The  Hottentot  or  Bosjesman  tribe — the  negro  "  Bush- 
men "  of  South  Africa — are  described  by  M.  Bory  de  St. 
Vincent  as  forming  the  transition  between  man  and  the 
genera  of  Orangs  and  Gibbons.  "  These  people,"  he 
adds,  "arc  so  brutish,  lazy,  and  stupid,  that  the  idea  of 
reducing  them  to  slavery  has  been  abandoned."  To 
this,  the  most  profound  advocate  of  the  "unity  of  race  " 
theory  is  constrained  to  add  his  testimony.  "  "Without 
houses  or  even  huts,"  writes  Dr.  Prichard,  "living  in 
caves  and  holes  in  the  earth,  those  naked  and  half- 
starved  savages  wander  through  forests,  in  small  com- 
panies or  separate  families,  hardly  supporting  their 
comfortless  existence  by  collecting  wild  roots ;  by  a 
toilsome  search  for  the  eggs  of  ants ;  and  by  devouring, 


44  CAl?E    AND    CONTRAST. 

•whenever  they  can  catch  them,  lizards,  snakes,  and  the 
most  loathsome  insects."  Surely,  if  consistent  ami 
sincere,  the  self-abasement  of  this  gentleman  would 
border  on  the  sublime :  but  when  we  remember  that  in 
the  fullness  of  his  English  pride,  he  would  hardly  admit 
that  the  Irish  Celt  was  a  child  of  Eve,  the  fraternal 
humiliation  with  "which  he  embraces  the  degraded  Hot- 
tentot, and  claims  for  him  common  origin  with  himself, 
is  stripped  of  more  than  half  its  poetic  fancy.  Yet,  in 
matters  of  veracity,  the  distance  that  divides  Dr.  Prich- 
ard  from  the  recent,  and  somewhat  celebrated  traveller, 
Dr.  David  Livingstone,  is  painfully  astonishing.  Sydney 
Smith  it  was,  we  believe,  who  declared  it  would  take  a 
surgical  operation  to  drive  a  joke  into  a  Scotchman  ;  and 
certainly  it  would  require  some  similar  experiment  to 
force  the  truth  out  of  this  Scotch  missionary.  Does  he 
know  of  aught  debasing  or  hopeless  in  the  negro  char- 
acter ?  Having,  perhaps,  the  fear  of  Exeter  Hall  before 
his  eyes,  it  is  carefully  concealed.  If  he  cannot  speak 
glowingly  of  his  African  friends,  he  will  be  sufficiently 
cautious  not  to  speak  evil  of  them.  Relative  to  the 
manners,  customs  and  characteristics  of  the  Hottentots, 
he  simply  informs  us  that  their  "  hair  "  "springs  from 
the  scalp  in  tufts  with  bare  spaces  between;"  while  of 
the  black  natives  of  Basongo,  he  says,  that  he  was 
impressed  by  the  strong  "  resemblance  they  bore  to 
certain  notabilities  at  home  !"  There  is  one  tribe,  how- 
ever, in  speaking  descriptively  of  which  he  never  seems 
to  weary — the  Batoka.  "They  have,"  he  says,  "a 
curious  taste  for  ornamenting  their  villages  with  the 
skulls  of  strangers."  "They  follow,"  he  adds,  "the 
curious  custom  of  knocking  out  the  front  teeth  at  the 
age  of  puberty.     This  is  done  by  both  sexes  ;  and  though 


BATOKAS — ALFORAS.  45 

the  under  teeth,  being  relieved  from  the  attrition  of  the 
upper,  grow  long  and  somewhat  bent  out,  and  thereby 
cause  the  under  lip  to  protrude  in  a  most  unsightly  way, 
no  young  woman  thinks  herself  accomplished  until  she 
has  got  rid  of  the  upper  incisors.  This  custom  gives 
them  an  uncouth,  old-like  appearance.  Their  laugh  is 
hideous."  And  again  :  "  The  women  clothe  themselves 
better  than  the  Balonda,  but  the  men  go  '  in  puris 
naturalibus.'  They  walk  about  without  the  smallest 
sense  of  shame.  They  have  even  lost  the  tradition  of 
the  '  fig  leaf.'  I  asked  a  fine,  large-bodied  old  man  if  he 
did  not  think  it  would  be  better  to  adopt  a  little  cover- 
ing. He  looked  with  a  pitying  leer,  and  laughed  with 
surprise  at  my  thinking  him  at  all  indecent ;  he  evi- 
dently considered  himself  above  such  weak  superstition. 
*  *  *  It  was  considered  a  good  joke  when  I  told 
them  that,  if  they  had  nothing  else,  they  must  put  on  a 
bunch  of  grass."  In  conclusion:  "their  mode  of  salu- 
tation is  quite  singular.  They  throw  themselves  on  the 
ground,  and,  rolling  from  side  to  side,  slap  the  outside  of 
their  thighs  as  expressions  of  thankfulness  and  welcome, 
uttering  the  words  '  kina  bomba.'  "  That  we  have  so 
much  of  the  truth  from  Dr.  Livingstone,  even  in  so  mild 
and  amiable  a  form,  is  doubtless  due  to  the  facts,  that  a 
portion  of  the  Batoka  rebelled  against  his  authority,  and 
that  a  war  of  extermination  was  waged  against  them  by 
his  pet  negro  chieftain,  one  Sebituane,  whose  personal 
narratives  are  absolutely  compared  by  him  to  Coesar's 
Commentaries ! 

But  to  turn  to  another  far  different  and  more  re- 
liable source. — M.  Lesson,  in  speaking  of  the  Alforas — 
a  tribe  of  New  Guinea  negroes  —  states  that  "the 
custom   prevalent   among   them   of  putting   their   pris- 


46  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

th    and    erecting   their  spoils   as  trophies, 
ints    for    the    difficulty  found    in    observing "    their 
ad  customs  even  upon  their  own  soil.     "But," 
utinucs,  "  the  Papuas  described  them  to  us  as  of  a 
ferocious    character — cruel    and    gloomy ;  possessing  no 
ling  their  whole  lives  in  seeking  subsistence 
in    the   forests.     *     *     *     An    excessive    stupidity  was 
|  ed  upon  their  countenances.     These  savages,  whose 
skin   is  of   a  very  deep,  swarthy,   dirty  brown   or   dark 
color,  go  naked.     They  make  incisions  upon  their  arms 
and   breasts,  and    wear    in   their   noses    pieces   of   wood 
nearly  six  inches  long.     Their   character  is  taciturn,  and 
their  physiognomy  fierce  ;  their  motion    is  uncertain  and 
slow."     To  the  foregoing  the  enterprising   and   accom- 
plished Dr.  Leyden  adds  his  testimony.     It  is  to   him 
that  the  world   is   indebted  for   the  first   elaborate    and 
intelligent   account   of   the  Alforas.     "They  are,"   says 
he,  "  universally  rude   and   unlettered:   and   where  tlicji 

been  reduced  to  the  rtate  of  ilave*  of  the 
their  habits  have  a  general  resemblance.  The  most 
singular  feature  of  their  manners  is  the  necessity  im- 
posed OD  each  and  all  <»f  them,  at  some  period  of  life,  to 
imbrue  their  hands  in  human  blood;  and  in  general, 
among  all  their  tribes,  as  well  as  the  Man,  no  person  is 
p  irmitted  to  marry  till  he  can  show  the  skull  of  a  man 
whom  he  has  slaughtered.  They  cat  the  ilesh  of  their 
like  the  Battas,  and  drink  out  of  their  skulls  ; 
and  the  ornaments  of  their  bouses  are  human  skulls  and 
teeth,  which  are  consequently  in  great  request  among 
them."  In  describing  the  negroes  of  Maria  and  Van 
Dieman's  Islands,  Mr.  Heron  says  of  them,  that  "  they 
are  without  laws  or  anything  like  regular  government; 
without  arts  of  any  kind,  with  nu  idea  of  agriculture,  of 


VAN   DIEMAN   NEGROES.  47 

the  use  of  metals,  or  of  the  services  to  be  derived  from 
animals ;  without  clothes  or  fixed  abode,  and  with  no 
other  shelter  than  a  mere  shed  of  bark  to  keep  off  the 
cold  south  winds ;  and  with  no  arms  but  a  club  and 
spear.  Although  these  and  the  neighboring  New  Hol- 
landers are  placed  in  a  fine  climate  and  productive  soil, 
they  derive  no  other  sustenance  from  the  earth  than  a 
few  fern  roots  and  bulbs  of  orchises ;  and  they  are  often 
driven  by  the  failure  of  their  principal  resource,  fish,  to 
the  most  revolting  food — frogs,  lizards,  serpents,  spiders, 
the  larvrc  of  insects,  and  particularly  a  kind  of  large 
caterpillar,  found  in  groups  on  the  branches  of  the 
eucalyptus  resinifera.  They  are  sometimes  obliged  to 
appease  the  cravings  of  hunger  by  the  bark  of  trees  and 
by  a  paste  made  by  pounding  together  ants,  their  larvae, 
and  fern  roots.  Their  remorseless  cruelty,  their  unfeel- 
ing barbarity  to  women  and  children,  their  immoderate 
revenge  for  the  most  trivial  affronts,  their  want  of 
natural  affection,  are  hardly  redeemed  by  the  slightest 
traits  of  goodness.  When  we  add  that  they  are  quite 
insensible  to  distinctions  of  right  and  wrong,  destitute  of 
religion,  -without  any  idea  of  a  Supreme  Being,  and  with 
the  feeblest  notion,  if  there  be  any  at  all,  of  a  future 
state,  the  revolting  picture  is  complete  in  all  its  fea- 
tures." It  would  be  easy,  if  necessary,  to  swell  this 
dreary  record ;  but  we  have  already  gone  over  sufficient 
ground — we  have  seen  the  typical  negro  in  at  least 
one-half  the  latitudes  and  longitudes  of  his  native 
home — everywhere  we  have  found  him  hopelessly  lazy, 
filthy,  savage,  and  degraded  unto  beastliness.  Ami  thus 
have  they  lived  and  perished  for  untold  centuries,  Christ- 
less  and  Godless,  starving  in  their  huts  and  kraals, 
burrowing  like  rabbits  into  the  earth  for  shelter,  roam- 


48  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

ing  through  forests  and  over  mountain  sides  stark  naked, 
livi)i_'  opon  polluted  things  that  even  birds  and  beasts  of 
prey  would    scorn    to    touch,    and,   finally,  sinking    into 
earth  like  decayed  vegetable  matter — without  a  name — 
without  a  history — without  a  monument  to  record  that 
they  had  ever  lived  or   died.     And   all  their  past  but 
symbolizes    what   shall    be    their    eternal  future,   unless 
brought  under  the  complete  and  unconditional  direction 
and  control  of  the  Caucasian  race.     In    this  condition 
of    subordination    and    dependence,    the    whole    negro 
family  might  in  time  become  what  the  four  or  five  mil- 
lions of  them  now  in  the  Confederate  States  of  America 
are — useful,  affectionate,  well  cared  for,  happy  and  con- 
tented, and  semi-civilized  servants.     But  to  the   distinc- 
tion  of  being  a  self-ruling  and  self-sustaining  people, 
they  never  have  risen,  and  never  can  arise  ;  for  their  own 
inherent  organism  prohibits  it.     Their  normal  state  is 
that  of  servitude   and  subjection ;  and  their  character- 
istics  even  when  so   placed,  we   will  leave  the   eminent 
scholar  from  whom  we  have  already  quoted,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  this  section,  to  relate :     "  The  negro  mind 
[when    domesticated]    is    confiding    and    single-hearted, 
naturally  kind   and    hospitable.     Both  sexes   are  easily 
ruled,  and  appreciate  what  is  good  under  the  guidance 
of  common  justice  and  prudence.     Yet  where  so  much 
that  honors  human  nature  remains   in  apathy — the  typi- 
cal  woolly-haired  races  have  never  invented  a  reasoned 
theological    system,   discovered   an    alphabet,  framed   a 
grammatical  language,  nor  made  the  least  step  in  science 
or  art.      They  have  never  comprehended  what   they  have 
learned,  or  retained  a  civilization  taught  them  by  contact 
with   more   refined    nations,    as    soon    as    that   contact 
ceased.     They  have  at  no  time  formed  great  political 


THE    NEGRO    NORMALLY   SAVAGE.  49 

States,  nor  commenced  a  self-evolving  civilization.  Con- 
quest •with  them  has  been  confined  to  kindred  tribes, 
and  produced  only  slaughter.  Even  Christianity  of 
more  than  three  centuries'  duration  in  Congo  has 
scarcely  excited  a  progressive  civilization."  And  thus 
are  we  fortified  in  our  position,  by  the  opinion  of  one 
of  the  most  candid  and  learned  of  English  naturalists — 
that  it  is  from  the  so-called  institution  of  "  Slavery," 
and  only  from  this,  can  spring  the  regeneration  of  the 
negro  race. 

XII. 

Hew  comes  it,  then,  that  the  negro  is,  and  ever  has 
been,  normally  savage  ?  He  was,  from  the  first,  sur- 
rounded by  the  earliest  civilization.  He  came  in  con- 
tact with  the  greatest  people  of  antiquity.  He  witnessed 
the  son  of  enlightenment  and  progress  irradiating  the 
world  around  him,  as  early  at  least  as  four  thousand 
years  ago ;  yet  he  remained,  throughout  the  long  ages, 
stolid,  immovable,  indifferent,  unchangeable,  and  revolt- 
ing to  the  geniality  of  all  superior  races,  as  the  burning 
mountains  and  sandy  deserts  of  his  native  land.  Mem- 
phis and  Thebes,  Babylon  and  Nineveh,  arose  in  splen- 
dor and  magnificence ;  the  pyramids  of  Egypt  and 
Ethiopia  were  built  for  immortality ;  the  Phoenicians 
were  spreading  letters  and  commerce,  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  liberty  and  civilization  :  but  upon  the  remain- 
ing monuments  of  all,  the  negro  is  displayed  in  a  con- 
dition of  abject  subjugation,  degradation,  and  slavery ; 
while  in  no  part  of  all  Africa  has  there  been  discovered 
an  alphabet,  a  hieroglyphic,  a  picture,  or  a  symbol,  as 
the  remains  of  his  intelligence  or  ingenuity.  We  shall 
4 


50  CAUSE   AND   CONTRAST. 

endeavor  to  account  for  all  this.  "We  will  undertake  to 
prove  that  the  negro  family  constitute  a  distinct  and 
entirely  different  group  of  the  human  species  from  the 
Caucasian — that  their  physical  and  intellectual  organi- 
zation is  radically  dissimilar  and  inferior  to  that  of  the 
white  man — and  consequently  that  servitude  and  sub- 
ordination, under  the  supervision  of  the  wiser  and  gov- 
erning races,  is  their  natural  and  unalterable  relation  in 
life.  In  seeking  to  establish  this,  we  shall  hardly 
hazard  an  opinion  of  our  own,  not  substantiated  by  the 
experimental  demonstrations  of  the  most  illustrious 
anatomists  and  savants  that  have  ever  lived.  We  do 
not  believe,  with  M.  de  St.  Vincent,  that  the  negro 
constitutes  the  connecting  link  between  man  and  the 
Simire.  That  position  in  natural  history  more  properly 
belongs  to  the  Gorilla.  Of  this  creature,  in  a  work 
recently  published  by  him,  M.  Duchaillu  concludes  that 
there  is  a  dissimilarity  between  the  bony  frame  of  man 
and  that  of  the  gorilla,  but  that  there  is  also  "an  awful 
likeness,  which  in  the  gorilla  resembles  an  exaggerated 
caricature  of  a  human  being."  The  first  specimen  of 
this  genus  seen  by  him,  he  describes  as  "  some  hellish 
dream  creature — a  being  of  that  hideous  order,  half- 
man,  half-beast,  which  is  found  pictured  by  old  artists 
in  representations  of  the  infernal  regions."  Upon 
being  shot,  he  adds,  the  gorilla  uttered  "  a  groan  which 
had  something  terribly  human  in  it,  and  yet  was  full  of 
Irutinhness."  The  negro  proper  is  certainly  not  so  low 
in  the  scale  of  physical*  organism  as  the  gorilla;  yet 


*  In  another  portion  of  his  work,  Du  Chaillu  gives  a  frightful 
account  of  the  cannibalism  prevailing  among  certain  negro  tribes; 
particularly   the   Fans,    from   which  we  make  a  few  brief  extracts  : 


GORILLA — HOTTENTOT.  51 

it  is  demonstrable  that  he  (especially  the  Hottentot), 
most  certainly  approximates  in  the  structure  of  his  frame 
to  the  monkey  kind  and  the  troglodyte.  Their  women, 
particularly  those  of  the  Bosjesman,  according  to  Soem- 
merring,  Sonneret,  and  Barrow,  are  marked  by  an  elon- 
gation of  the  nymphae,  which  increases  with  age  and 
maturity,  and  often  reaches  to  the  startling  length  of 
five  or  seven  inches ;  but  this,  however,  is  not  a  charac- 


"  On  going  out  one  morning,  I  saw  a  pile  of  ribs,  leg  and  arm-bones, 
and  skulls  (human)  piled  up  at  the  back  of  my  house,  which  looked 
horrid  enough  to  me.  In  fact,  symptoms  of  cannibalism  stare  me  in 
the  face  wherever  I  go.  Eating  the  bodies  of  persons  who  have  died  of 
sickness,  is  a  form  of  cannibalism  of  which  I  had  never  heard  among 
any  people,  so  that  I  determined  to  inquire  if  it  were  indeed  a  general 
custom  among  the  Fans,  or  merely  an  exceptional  freak.  They 
spoke  without  embarrassment  about  the  whole  matter,  and  I  was 
informed  that  they  constantly  buy  the  dead  of  the  Osheba  tribe, 
who,  in  return,  buy  theirs.  They  also  buy  the  dead  of  other  families 
in  their  own  tribes ;  and  besides  this,  get  the  bodies  of  a  great  many 
slaves  from  the  Mbichos  and  Mbondemos,  for  which  they  readily  give 
ivory,  at  the  rate  of  a  small  tusk  for  a  body.  *  *  *  A  party 
of  Fans,  who  came  down  on  the  sea-shore,  once  actually  stole  a 
freshly  buried  body  from  the  cemetery,  cooked  it  and  ate  it ;  *  * 
and  even  the  missionaries  heard  of  it,  for  it  happened  at  a  village 
not  far  from  the  missionary  grounds.  *  *  *  In  fact,  the  Fans 
seem  regular  ghouls,  only  they  practice  their  horrid  custom  unblush- 
ingly,  and  in  open  day,  and  have  no  shame  about  it.  I  have  seen 
here  knives  covered  with  human  skin,  which  their  owners  valued  very 
highly.  To-day,  the  Queen  brought  me  some  boiled  plantain,  which 
looked  very  nice ;  but  the  fear  lest  she  should  have  cooked  it  in 
some  pot  where  a  man  had  been  cooked  before — which  was  most 
likely  the  case — made  me  unable  to  eat  it.  On  these  journeys,  I 
have  fortunately  taken  with  me  sufficient  pots  to  do  my  own  cooking. 
They  are  the  finest,  bravest  looking  set  of  negroes  I  have  seen  in  the 
interior,  and  eating  human  flesh  seems  to  agree  with  them."  Cer- 
tainly the  morals  of  the  Fans  cannot  bb  far  in  advance  of  those  of 
the  gorilla. 


52  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

teristic  of  the  simi:v.  They  have  also,  generally  after 
their  first  pregnancy,  a  most  ridiculous  and  disgusting 
protuberance  on  their  buttocks,  which  is  exaggerated 
in  aspect  by  the  remarkable  outward  extension  of  the 
posterior,  and  inward  curvature  of  the  spine ;  and  this 
latter,  it  may  be  observed  here,  is  a  distinctive  pecu- 
liarity in  the  structure  of  the  race.  The  projection 
in  question,  it  is  said,  ordinarily  reaches  five  or  six 
inches  in  length  from  the  apex  of  the  spine,  and  imparts 
to  the  women  when  walking  the  most  ludicrous  appear- 
ance imaginable — "  every  step  being  accompanied  with 
a  quivering  and  tremulous  motion,  as  if  two  masses  of 
jelly  were  attached  behind."  This  was  one  of  the 
distinguishing  features  discovered  by  Baron  Cuvier  in 
the  "  Hottentot  Venus,"  exhibited  some  years  ago  in 
Paris — a  Venus  which  certainly  must  have  been  a  very 
Hottentotish  Venus.  We  can  easily  comprehend  why 
extreme  loveliness,  was  the  cause  of  all  Mary,  Queen 
of  Scots'  misfortunes,  and  why  those  heavenly  attributes, 
in  spite  of  her  faults  and  follies,  and  three  centuries  of 
time,  still  endear  her  memory  to  millions  of  men ;  but 
we  are  unable  to  conceive  by  what  miracle,  or  divine 
interposition,  a  chivalrous  sympathy  could  be  aroused  in 
a  refined  and  generous  mind,  on  behalf  of  a  Hottentot 
venus  or  queen.  Yet  it  is  not  because  that  the  latter 
is  wanting  in  charms  of  personal  beauty  that  we  would 
deem  her  an  inferior  being,  but  because  that  Nature 
lias  made  her  with  a  hopelessly  degraded  intellectual 
organization. 

Dr.  Socmmerring  enumerates  forty-six  instances 
wherein  the  anatomy  of  the  negro  differs  from  that  of 
the  Caucasian.  In  his  summary  of  the  characteristics 
of    the   negro   cranium,    Mr.    Lawrence    describes    the 


NEGRO   ORGANISM.  53 

whole  front  of  the  head  as  narrow,  the  forehead  flat- 
tened and  receding ;  the  cavity  of  the  brain  compara- 
tively small,  both  in  its  circumference  and  full  length 
measurements  ;  the  hinder  perforation  and  condyles 
placed  farther  back  than  in  the  European ;  the  face 
large,  jaws  prominent,  teeth  slanting,  chin  receding, 
and  cheek-bone  extraordinarily  arched  and  projecting 
forward ;  the  nasal  cavity  small,  and  the  ossa  nasa 
nearly  consolidated — the  whole  structure,  in  these  and 
many  other  particulars,  he  says,  "  unequivocally  ap- 
proximating to  that  of  the  monkey.  Compared  with 
the  Caucasian,  the  intellectual  qualities  are  reduced 
and  the  animal  features  enlarged.  And  this  inferiority 
of  organization  is  attended  with  the  corresponding  un- 
failing inferiority  of  faculties."  A  very  clever  -writer 
on  this  subject,  has  ascertained  that  the  brain  of  the 
white  man  averages  ninety-two  to  ninety-five  cubic 
inches,  while  that  of  the  negro  often  falls  as  low  as 
seventy-five  inches,  and  rarely  exceeds  eighty ;  and,  as 
we  have  seen  above,  its  locality  as  greatly  inclines  to 
the  posterior  of  the  head,  as  it  does  to  the  anterior  in 
that  of  the  Caucasian.  Hence,  it  must  be  self-evident 
to  the  most  superficial  thinker,  that  a  negro  of  well 
regulated  intellectual  faculties,  such  as  any  ordinary 
white  man  possesses,  is  absolutely  a  natural  impossi- 
bility. Even  his  vocal  and  lingual  inferiority  is  sternly 
marked  and  decisive.  No  negro  ever  spoke  a  civilized 
tongue  correctly,  much  less,  perfectly.  It  is  an  indis- 
putable fact,  that  the  French  language  learned  of 
French  masters  by  the  negroes  in  Ilayti,  is  rapidly 
becoming  corrupted  or  falling  into  disuse,  and  the 
mother  African  dialect  instinctively  taking  its  place — 
another  patent  illustration  of  their  incapacity  to  retain 


54  CAUSE    AND     CONTRAST. 

a  borrowed  civilization,  without  the  controlling  super- 
vision of  a  superior  race.  The  musical  faculties  of  the 
arc  equally  defective.  No  great  composer — no 
great  singer  even — of  this  family,  we  believe,  has  ever 
existed.  The  famous  "  Black  Swan,"  who  was  of  a 
mixed  type,  and  who  was  reputed  by  the  friends  and 
admirers  of  the  African  as  a  musical  prodigy,  consti- 
tutes no  exception  to  this  inevitable  rule.  In  the  full- 
ness of  England's  philanthropy,  she  was  parentally 
placed  under  the  care  and  tutorship  of  the  British 
Queen's  musician ;  but  notwithstanding  the  most  strenu- 
ous efforts  on  her  behalf,  the  sacred  charge  had  to  be 
relinquished,  and  the  "  Swan  "  proved  a  miserable 
failure.  The  negro,  it  is  true,  fancies  music ;  so  he 
does  the  most  gaudy  and  glaring  colors.  This  fancy, 
however,  is  sensual,  not  intellectual.  The  solemn  ele- 
phant and  the  gallant  war-steed,  are  equally  moved  by 
the  influence  of  harmony.  But  the  emotions  kindled  in 
the  bosoms  of  a  Scottish  regiment,  by  the  air  of  "Annie 
Laurie,"  and  which  could  drive  their  bayonets  through 
the  serried  columns  of  a  Russian  army  at  Inkerman,  are 
intellectual  emotions — memories  of  mountain  homes, 
childhood's  scenes,  absent  friends,  and  therefore,  stimu- 
lating to  glory  and  immortality — but  as  impossible  to 
the  subjectiveness  of  the  typical  negro,  as  they  would 
be  to  the  elephant  or  the  war-horse. 

It  is  not  in  the  locality  of  mind  alone  that  the  negro 
is  an  inferior  being ;  debasement  characterizes,  in  indel- 
ible particulars,  his  whole  skeleton.  His  head,  even 
superficially  considered,  will  convey  to  the  ordinary 
observer  this  conviction.  It  is  prognathous,  and,  there- 
fore, of  a  type  with  simiic.  Soemmerring  found  that 
the  position  of  the  foramen  ma<jnumy   in  the  skull  of 


DEGRADATION   OF   TYPE.  55 

the  negro,  approximated  to  its  situation  in  that  of  the 
Chimpanzee  and  Ourang-Outang.  This  famous  anato- 
mist also  discovered,  among  many  other  similar  pecu- 
liarities— and  his  conclusions  in  this  particular  are 
acquiesced  in  by  the  no  less  distinguished  Daubenton, — 
that  the  head  of  the  negro  is  placed  farther  back  upon 
the  column  (vertebral)  of  the  spine,  than  is  the  case 
■with  any  of  the  superior  races ;  which  is  another  dis- 
tinguishing feature  of  animal  construction.  The  bones 
of  his  leg  are  bent  outward.  The  outer  and  smaller 
bone  (fibula),  and  the  larger  of  the  bones  (tibia)  forming 
the  segment  of  the  leg,  are,  in  the  negro,  convex.  The 
calves  of  his  legs  are  so  high  as  to  encroach  upon  his 
hams.  His  feet  and  hands,  instead  of  being  arched  as 
with  the  Caucasian,  are  flat.  The  os  calcis  with  him  is 
almost  in  a  direct  straight  line.  As  is  the  case  with  the 
ape  and  troglodyte,  his  forearm  is  proportionally  much 
longer  than  that  of  the  European.  But  the  distinction 
does  not  stop  here.  Dr.  Vrolik,  in  making  a  compara- 
tive examination  of  the  conformation  of  the  pelvis  in 
various  races,  was  enabled  to  arrive  at  some  discoveries 
and  conclusions  at  once  important  and  interesting  to  us. 
"The  pelvis  of  the  male  negro,"  he  avers,  "in  the 
strength  and  density  of  its  substance,  and  of  the  bones 
which  compose  it,  resembles  the  pelvis  of  a  wild  beast." 
The  pelvis  of  the  negress,  however,  he  found  to  be  of 
lighter  substance  and  greater  delicacy  both  of  form  and 
structure,  but  still  so  gross  as  to  render  it  impossible  to 
separate  it  from  the  idea  of  degradation  in  type,  if  not 
immediate  approximation  to  the  form  of  that  in  the  lower 
animals.  The  pelvis  of  the  Hottentot,  especially,  forci- 
bly resembled  the  structure  of  that  in  simiaj. 

We  will   now   direct   our   attention  to  the  apparent 


56  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

ohftraeteriflticfl  whiofa  distinguish  this  genus  of  man,  and 
adopt  the  definition  which  the  most  illustrious  naturalist 
that  ever  lived,  gives  of  the  negro  proper.  "The  negro 
\  s  Cuvier,  "  is  marked  by  a  black"  complexion, 
crisped  or  woolly  hair,  compressed  cranium,  and  a  ilat 
nose.  The  projection  of  the  lower  parts  of  the  face,  and 
the  thick  lips,  evidently  approximate  it  to  the  monkey 
tribe.  The  hordes  of  which  it  consists  have  always 
remained  in  the  most  complete  state  of  barbarism," 
&c,  &C.  Malpighi  was  the  first  anatomist  who  dis- 
covered a  membrane,  or  layer,  beneath  the  cuticle, 
which  he  asserted  was  the  seat  of  the  black  color  in 
the  negro's  skin.  More  recently,  however,  M.  Flourens, 
a  justly  celebrated  French  anatomist,  made  a  more 
thorough  and  minute  examination  of  this  phenomenon, 
which  enabled  him  to  arrive  systematically  at  a  most 
important  discovery.  Between  the  cutis  (skin)  and 
cuticle  (scarf-skin)  of  the  negro,  he  found  four  layers; 
the  second  of  which,  from  the  cutis,  had  the  aspect  of 
a  mucous  membrane,  and  upon  the  surface  of  which 
was  spread  a  layer  of  black  pigment.  This  membrane 
is  entirely  foreign  to  the  organism  of  the  white  man. 
M.  Flourens  had  this  pigmentum  nigrum  denuded  by 
maceration,  when  it  appeared  of  a  much  blacker  hue 
than  it  had  previously  presented.  He  had  this  experi- 
ment subsequently  displayed  before  the  Academy  of 
Sciences,  in  Paris,  by  macerating  the  skins  both  of  a 
typical  negro  and  mulatto,  each  of  whom  were  possessed 
of  this  phenomenon;  but  upon  subjecting  the  white  man 
to  a  similar  process  of  examination,  it  was  found  that  the 
pigment,  and  the  membrane  upon  which  it  is  deposited 
in  the  negro,  were  completely  wanting  in  his  structure. 
When  the  results  of  M.  Flourens'  discoveries  were  pub- 


PIGMENTUM   NIGRUM.  57 

lished,  Dr.  Hcnle — a  very  clever  German  anatomist — 
received  them  with  unfeigned  scepticism,  and,  resolved 
upon  testing  their  reliability,  subjected  the  pigment  to  a 
microscopical  examination.  The  results  of  his  minute 
labor,  however,  only  enabled  him  to  arrive  in  effect  at 
similar  conclusions.  But  what  M.  Flourens  regarded  as 
a  membrane,  Dr.  Henle  maintains  is  composed  of  com- 
plicated cells  or  cytoblasts.  But,  in  addition  to  those 
cells  which  characterize  the  organization  of  the  Cau- 
casian, he  frankly  confesses  to  having  discovered  oilier 
and  different  cells  in  the  structure  of  the  negro,  which 
are  the  seat  of  the  black  pigment,  and  necessarily  of  his 
outward  deformed  aspect. 

Here,  then,  is  a  phenomenon,  distinct,  and  peculiar  to 
the  structure  of  the  African  race,  and  bearing  the  signal 
stamp  of  degradation  and  inferiority  of  type.  If,  as 
their  white  advocates  claim  for  them,  they  are  equally 
with  the  Caucasian,  children  of  Adam  and  Eve,  how 
have  they  become  possessed  of  separate  characteristics 
in  their  anatomical  organization,  and  which  are  so  en- 
tirely foreign  to  our  structure  ?  If  tve  ever  were  pos- 
sessed of  them,  when  did  our  race  lose  them  ?  If,  in  the 
beginning,  they  had  them  not,  then  when,  where,  and 
how,  did  they  become  the  sole  possessors  of  these  exclu- 
sive traits  ?  It  will  not  do  to  argue  that  the  moles, 
freckle?,  and  similar  phenomena  of  the  white  races, 
must  also  have  some  peculiar  scat  of  color;  for  these 
are  evanescent  and  abnormal,  while  the  black  pigment 
and  the  additional  membrane  in  the  negro,  are  normal, 
enduring,  and  unalterable,  as  the  eternity  of  granite 
hills  ! 

Relative  to  the  color,  crispness,  and  woolly  aspect  of 
the    negro's  hair,  men   of  learning  and  science  in  the 


58  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

Old  World,  whore  the  opportunities  of  observation  are 
comparatively  limited,  have  long  varied  in  opinion  as  to 
the  cause.  It  is  now,  however,  a  fact  well  established  in 
this  country,  that  the  several  peculiar  characteristics  of 
this  excrescence,  are,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  colora- 
tion in  the  negro's  skin,  influenced  by  organic  and  ex- 
clusive agencies.  Peter  A.  Browne,  Esq.,  of  Philadel- 
phia, in  his  complete  refutation  of  the  conclusion  arrived 
at  by  Dr.  Prichard — that  the  negro  has  hair,  properly  so 
called,  and  not  wool — gives  us  the  results  of  his  very 
thorough  and  scientific  investigations.  He  subjected  the 
pile  (hair)  of  three  different  types  of  mankind  to  a  mi- 
croscopical examination — Indian,  Caucasian,  and  Negro. 
By  this  process,  he  distinctly  discovered  that  the  hair  of 
the  native  American  Indian  was  cylindrical ;  that  of  the 
Caucasian  oval ;  and  that  of  the  Negro  eccentrically 
elliptical.  "In  observing  the  course  or  path  pursued  by 
the  point  where  it  pierces  the  epidermis  (bark  of  the 
skin)  to  its  apex,"  he  found  that  the  pile  of  each  had 
respectively  its  own  specific  and  individual  variety  of 
type.  That  of  the  Indian  was  lank  and  straight — of  the 
Caucasian,  flowing,  wavy,  or  curled — and  of  the  Negro, 
crisped,  frizzled,  spiral,  and  woolly.  The  quality  of 
each  of  these  specific  species  of  pile,  is  dependent  for  its 
particular  form  upon  certain  constitutional  elementary 
causes.  The  necessary  physiology  of  a  cylindrical  hair 
is  lankness  and  straightness ;  that  of  the  oval  renders  it 
imperative  that  it  shall  wave,  or  curl,  or  flow,  in  its 
course ;  but  the  eccentrically  elliptical  hair,  in  obedience 
to  the  law  of  its  nature,  is  crisped,  spiral,  or  woolly. 
In  exposing  these  several  forms  of  pile,  to  a  chemical 
and  mechanical  experiment  under  the  microscope,  for 
the  purpose  of  testing  the  relative  properties  of  ductility 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF   PILE.  59 

and  elasticity  of  their  fibres,  it  was  found  that  these 
forces  in  the  cylindrical  hair  were  equal  on  all  sides, 
and,  therefore,  naturally  straight  and  lank ;  whereas,  in 
the  oval  hair,  the  shrinking  and  stretching  powers 
proved  unequal — the  fibres  on  the  two  flattened  sides 
of  the  filament  being  more  powerful  than  those  on  the 
ellipsoid,  and,  consequently,  of  a  curving  tendency  in  its 
path.  But  when  thus  tested,  the  pile  of  the  negro  still 
retained,  in  the  same  manner,  its  spiral  and  woolly 
characteristic. 

The  inclination  of  pile  is  entirely  due  "  to  the  angle 
which  the  root  of  the  hair  bears  to  the  skin  of  the  ani- 
mal in  which  it  is  imbedded.  The  roots  both  of  cylin- 
drical and  oval  pile  have  an  oblique  angle  of  inclination, 
for  which1  reason  those  hairs  do  not  grow  out  of  the  epi- 
dermis at  a  right  angle  thereto,  but  inclined  in  a  deter- 
minate manner ;  while  the  roots  of  wool,  which  is  eccen- 
trically elliptical  or  flat,  on  the  contrary,  lie  in  the 
dermis  perpendicularly,  and  hence  the  filaments  pierce 
the  epidermis  at  right  angles  thereto."  Now,  this  latter 
prominent  and  specific  difference  is,  among  all  mankind, 
the  peculiarly  exclusive  characteristic  of  the  negro  race. 
Some  tribes  of  Papuas,  inhabiting  the  north  coast  of 
Guinea,  called  "  Mopheads,"  are  said  by  Dr.  Prichard 
to  have  "a  bushy  mass  of  Aa//"-woolly  hair,"  but  it  is 
now  notorious  that  these  are  a  bastard  genus,  begotten 
of  an  amalgamation  of  Malays  and  negroes. 

All  pile  is  furnished  by  nature  with  a  particular  seat 
of  color.  We  have  seen  above  that  the  characteristic 
of  the  Caucasian's  skin  is  discoloration,  whereas  the 
negro  is  furnished  with  an  additional  membrane,  or  cel- 
lular substances,  totally  foreign  to  the  organism  of  the 
former,  but  which  is  the  instrument  of  coloration  in  the 


GO  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

Utter.  The  same  diversity,  but  inr  another  aspect,  pre- 
If  in  the  physiology  of  pile.  In  addition  to  its 
cortex  (cover)  and  intermediate  fibres,  the  hair  of  the 
white  man  has  a  complicated  and  delicately  constructed 
canal,  through  which  this  coloring  matter  flows;  and 
where  color  even  fails,  the  canal  remains,  but  void  of 
the  coloring  substance.  The  wool  of  the  negro,  how- 
ever, has  no  such  canal.  The  coloring  matter  here, 
when  present,  permeates  the  cortex  and  its  intermediate 
fibres — forming  part  and  parcel  of  the  filament.  Thus, 
in  the  skin  of  the  Caucasian  we  find  no  organ  of  colora- 
tion, but  in  that  of  the  negro  we  find  a  [specific  mem- 
brane for  that  purpose.  On  the  contrary,  the  hair  of 
the  white  man  is  furnished  with  a  canal,  which  is  the 
medium  of  its  coloring  qualities;  of  this  machinery, 
however,  the  wool  of  the  negro  is  altogether  devoid. 
Consequently,  "  the  hair  of  the  white  man  is  perfect, 
having  not  only  the  apparatus  found  in  other  pile,  but 
one  exclusively  belonging  to  itself — a  central  canal  for 
the  conveyance  of  coloring  matter;  "  it  is  oval  in  shape, 
in  its  direction  curling  or  flowing,  and  acute!//  angled 
out  of  the  epidermis,  from  which  it  springs.  The  wool 
of  the  negro  is  the  direct  opposite,  being  an  imperfect 
pile,  having  no  central  canal,  flat  in  shape,  and  issuing 
out  of  the  dermis,  through  the  surface  of  the  epidermis, 
in  right  angle.  When  this  pile  is  subjected  to  a  micro- 
scopical examination,  its  surface,  or  angles,  present  ser- 
rations such  as  are  found  upon  the  wool  of  sheep.  These 
scales  in  the  Caucasian  are  rudimentary,  but  on  the  hair 
of  the  negro,  they  are  perfect.  On  the  pile  of  the 
former,  they  are  comparatively  few  in  number  and  of 
smooth  surface,  rounded  points,  and  closely  embracing 
the  shaft.     On  the   hair  of  the  negro,  they  are  promi- 


NEGRO   WOOLLY   PILE.  61 

nent,  numerous,  and  transparent;  and  this  species  of 
pile  will  felt,  while  that  of  the  white  man  will  not. 
Hence,  the  conclusions  arrived  at  are :  that  hair  and 
wool  are  not  the  same  integuments ;  that  hair,  properly 
so  called,  is  cylindrical  or  oval  in  shape,  and  wool  eccen- 
trically elliptical  or  flat ;  that  the  direction  of  the  former 
is  straight,  flowing,  or  curling,  but  that  of  the  latter 
crisped,  or  spirally  frizzled ;  that  hair  issues  out  of  the 
epidermis  at  an  acute  angle,  while  wool  emerges  out  of 
the  dermis  at  a  right  angle ;  that  the  coloring  matter  of 
hair  is  provided  with  a  central  canal,  and  that  of  wool 
disseminated  throughout  the  cortex  and  its  intermediate 
fibres ;  that  the  scales  on  hair  are  comparatively  few  in 
number,  smooth,  less  pointed,  and  more  closely  em- 
bracing the  shaft,  while  in  wool  they  are  numerous, 
rough,  pointed,  and  do  not  intimately  embrace  the 
shaft ;  that  hair  will  not  felt,  but  wool  will ;  finally, 
that  the  covering  of  the  negro's  head  will  felt  and  is 
wool;  and,  therefore,  that  he  is  of  a  different  type  of 
mankind  from  the  latter,  and  by  no  means  children  of 
one  common  progenitor. 

We  have  now  demonstrated  that  the  negro  is  an  infe- 
rior being — that  he  is  not  of  the  same  origin,  organism, 
moral  or  intellectual  faculties  as  the  white  man — and 
that  to  insist,  in  defiance  of  historic  and  scientific  evi- 
dences, that  he  is  descended  from  the  same  parents  that 
we  arc,  is  the  most  false  and  insulting  blasphemy  against 
Nature  and  truth.  Neither  can  the  matter  be  mended 
by  amalgamation.*     Nature  ever  indignantly  rejects  or 


*  All  animated  nature  scorns  amalgamation.  The  beasts  of  the 
forest — the  birds  of  the  air — the  fishes  of  the  sea — all  keep,  as  a 
general  rule,  their  own  tribes,  or  species,  free  from  this  sin  against 


62  CAUSE   AND    CONTRAST. 

revenges,  all  artificial  interferences  with  the  wisdom, 
unitv,  and  harmony  of  her  immutahle  laws.  The 
Spaniards,  who  settled  in  Mexico  and  Central  America, 
were  noble  Caucasians — were  the  descendants  of  the  Cid, 
Tonce  de  Leon,  and  Bernardo  del  Carpio — descendants 
of  the  conquerors  of  Granada  and  the  victors  of  Le- 
panto — children  of  those  daring  or  chivalrous  adven- 
turers, who  wrested  from  Montezuma  his  fair  dominions 
and  golden  palaces,  and  sought  to  explore  the  Mississippi 
and  Missouri  to  their  sources — yet  where,  and  what, 
are  their  Mexican  progeny  of  to-day  ?  They  married 
and  intermarried  with  the  natives ;  amalgamation  was 
gradually  followed  hy  decay  and  emasculation  ;  and  for 
the  nohle  Pelasgic  countenances  of  the  loyal  subjects  of 
Isabel  the  Catholic,  we  seek  in  vain  among  the  half- 
Aztec,  half-monkey  physiognomies  of  those  regions.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Ethiopians,  who,  in  some  superficial 
aspects,  seem  to  approximate  to  the  negro,  have  for 
thousands  of  years — certainly  long  before  the  flight  into 
Egypt — chosen  a  great  portion  of  the  women  for  their 
harems,  from  among  the  slave  women  of  the  Soudan, 
without  becoming  negroes  themselves,  or  having  their 
race  even  perceptibly  corrupted.  And,  again,  we  know 
from  the  very  satisfactory  work  of  Dr.  Van  Evrie — 
"Negroes  and  Negro  Slavery" — that  hybridity  in  the 
American  States  is  invariably  attended  with  a  corres- 
ponding diminution  of  virility,  from  the  first  generation 
of  mulattoism  to  the  fourth,  when  it  becomes  "  as  abso- 
lutely sterile  as  muleism : "  all  of  which  facts  demon- 
strate, that  the   Utopian  dreams  of  misguided  and  per- 


>  cat  kosmot  of  a  superintending  Providence,  unless  thwarted  by 
the  ingenious  and  artificial  contrivances  and  experiments  of  man. 


A   MODERN    ERROR.  63 

verse  modern  philanthropy,  on  behalf  of  the  negro,  are 
impossible  of  realization ;  and  that  the  proper  social  and 
political  sphere  of  the  latter  is  subserviency  to  the 
superior  genius  of  the  Caucasian. 

Note. — Well  meaning  and  excellent  minds  may  accuse  the  author 
of  infidelity  to  the  Mosaic  account  of  creation,  because  of  the  doc- 
trines promulged  by  him  in  the  foregoing  section  of  his  essay.  To  all 
such  persons — if  there  be  any — he  responds:  "If  other  men  choose 
to  misinterpret  Moses,  it  is  neither  his  fault  nor  the  fault  of  Moses." 

We  contend  that  the  genus,  man,  like  unto  all  of  the  other  types 
of  animated  nature,  was  created  in  distinctive  and  specific  groups, 
during  certain  intervals  of  creation ;  like  the  buffalo,  Durham,  and 
Kerry  cow — like  the  salmon,  trout,  and  rockfish — like  the  jay,  mock- 
ing, and  canary  birds.  But  here  we  run  counter  again  to  the 
popular  notions  of  the  Biblical  account.  The  "days"  of  Genesis 
are  made  to  represent  such  days  as  we  recognize.  God,  of  course, 
might  as  easily  have  created  the  world  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye, 
if  such  were  his  purpose,  as  in  the  "six  days"  of  our  ordinary 
theology,  or,  indeed,  in  a  billion  of  our  years.  But  the  work  of 
creation  —  of  decomposition  and  formation  —  is  still  going  on;  and 
the  usual  interpretation  given  to  the  words  of  Moses,  place  him  and 
the  science  of  Nature  at  eternal  enmity,  where  nought  but  harmony 
should  exist.  The  Hebrew  word  ioum,  which  represents  the  "  morn- 
ing and  evening"  of  the  successive  cycles  of  Creation,  in  the  book  of 
Genesis,  has  been  restricted  in  the  accepted  English  translation  to  the 
term  "day."  Ioum,  however,  may  mean  either  "day"  or  any  un- 
limited period  of  time.  Hence,  in  the  Commentaries  of  St.  Augustine, 
that  great  light  of  the  Latin  church,  we  find  that  he  is  not  far  from 
adopting  the  broader  signification  of  the  term ;  whilst  Nemesius,  a 
Greek  bishop  of  the  fourth  century,  did  not  hesitate  to  regard  ioum  as 
synonymous  with  the  Syriac  word  sir,  or  cycle  of  revolution. 

Let  Moses  and  the  prophets,  for  the  future,  be  judged  by  the  lights 
of  nature,  science,  and  philosophy.     They  have  suffered  too  long  from 
the  stupid  interpretations  of  dogmatism  and  scepticism — twin-s; 
like  sin  and  death,  who  have  done  more  than  all  other  powers  to  breed 

ISFIKKLITY. 


64  n    AND    CONTRAST. 


XIII. 

Tin:  philosophy  of  Don  Quixote  was  the  insanity  of 
misdirected  Chivalry.  In  like  manner,  tbe  pilgrims  of 
Plymouth  Rock  arc  actuat<  id  by  a  wicked  ami  perverse 
system   of    unnatural    philantl  woeful-faced 

Knight  of  La  Mancha,  vent  forth  into  the  world  to 
overthrow  sorcery,  magic,  ami  the  general  machinery  of 
darkness  —  he  would  make  all  thing-  right,  redress 
wrong,  ami  liberate  helpless  ami  innocent  maidens  from 
the  thraldom  of  the  devil — hut,  alas !  his  giants  were 
inoffensive    wind-mills,    hif  ing    armies    harn 

shecpfolds.     But  tin-  master  of   Sancho  was  sincere — 

was    the   creature    ami    victim  <>f  his    own    illusions- 

innocenl  and  guileless  toward  the  human  family.  The 
pilgrim  zealot  ad,  with  "humanity"  and 

"  philanthropy  "  upon  their  lips,  and  jealousy  and  hatred 
of  the  Southern  1  tamped  upon  their  hearts, 

make  war  upon  the  constitutional  rights  of  fifteen  free, 
i.  ami  independent  States,  to  gratify  their 
malice  and  glorify  their  immaculateness  (hypocrisy),  at 
the  expense  of  others — invariably  in  the  name,  and  pro- 
fessedly on  the  behalf,  hut  always  to  the  irreparable 
injury  and  disadvantage  of,  the  negro  race — until  they 
have  at  length  succeeded,  by  means  of  this  shibboleth, 
in   destroying   the  greatest    Republic    upon    earth,   and 


PURITANICAL   ENORMITIES.  65 

arraying  against  each  other,  in  a  bloody  civil  -war, 
thirty  millions  of  freemen!  The  psychology  of  these 
men  is  sheer  dissimulation — historical  and  almost  trans- 
parent. They  are  nothing,  if  they  arc  not  pragmatical. 
Those  -who  kneel  not  before  the  same  altar  with  them, 
are  not  only  proscribed  in  this  life,  but  consigned  to 
future  perdition  in  the  next.  lie  who  would  dare  to  differ 
from  them  in  political  opinion,  must  learn  how  to  resign 
himself  to  contumely  and  obscurity.  Every  six  or  seven 
years,  they  will  become  possessed  of  some  new  spirit  of 
reform,  to  the  teachings  of  which  their  neighbors  must 
bend,  or  reap  the  dire  consequences  of  their  recusancy. 
Their  Puritan  ancestors  of  England  were  the  same. 
They  had  their  lawful  king  sent  to  the  block.  They 
placed  the  reins  of  power  in  the  hands  of  a  vulgar 
usurper,  murderer,  blasphemer,  and  tyrant.  They  ban- 
ished from  the  throne  the  line  of  kings,  to  whom,  by 
inheritance,  it  legally  belonged,  and  they  placed  upon  it, 
men  who  were  as  far  removed  from  being  gentlemen, 
as  the  Puritans  were  from  being  saints.  "When  their 
enormities  became  unendurable  at  home,  they  wandered 
over  to  Holland,  where  they  were  sheltered  with  a 
temporary  asylum.  But  their  hypocrisy,  studied  eccen- 
tricities, long  lank  hair,  rueful  countenances,  snivelling 
cant,  affectations  of  supernatural  self-gloriousncss,  and 
revolting  habits  of  impertinent  officiousness,  soon  ren- 
dered them  at  once  obnoxious  and  intolerable  there. 

They  next  emigrated  to,  and  settled  in,  Massachusetts. 
Here,  in  the  virgin  forests  of  a  new  land,  they  planted 
the  banner  of  intolerance,  and  erected  altars  and  tem- 
ples to  the  deity  of  human  sacrifice.  They  had  Roman 
Catholics  sent  to  the  gibbet ;  they  butchered  Quakers  in 
cold  blood ;  they  caused  old  women,  charged  with  witch- 
5 


GO  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

craf:  and  prostitutes,  to  perish  at  the  Btake; 

and  they  banished,  like  lepers  from  their  midst,  I 
and  Methodists,  Nor  have  their  progeny,  down  to  the 
[ay,  improved,  save  in  proportion  as  the  outside 
influences  of  social  forces  compelled  them.  But  a  few 
▼can  since,  they  laid  in  ashefl  the  charitable  institutions 
and  religious  clifices  of  the  Roman  Catholics;  and  in 
violation  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  they  sought  to 
exclude  members  of  this  denomination,  and  especially 
foreigners,  from  citizenship.  They  next  sought  to  re- 
gulate the  appetites  of  society,  and  directly  violate 
the  Constitution,  by  the  provisions  of  the  famous 
"Maine  Law,"  which  prohibited  the  sale  or  importation 
of  spirituous  liquors.  Now  they  arc  devoted  followers 
of  the  notorious  Fanny  Wright,  and  bent  upon  the 
fundamental  overthrow  of  the  Christian  institution  of 
matrimony.  Next  we  find  them  propagandists  of  the 
philosophy  of  Charles  Fourier,  and  determinedly  re- 
solved upon  the  subversion  of  the  rights  of  personal 
property  and  the  establishment  of  Communism. 

But  during  the  pasi  twenty-five  or  thirty  years,  the  very 
spine  of  all  northern  and  puritanical  fanaticism,  has  been 
ASTI-8LAVBRT.  Circumstances,  and  the  contiguity  of 
the  sea,  nevertheless,  had  rendered  the  people  of  New 
England  navigators.  As  such,  they  were  among  the 
firtt  on  this  continent  to  eagerly  engage  in,  and  profit 
by  the  slave  trade,  and  certainly  the  last  to  relinquish  it. 
When  our  government  resolved  upon  its  abolition, 
many  of  their  representatives  opposed  the  measure  in 
Congress  to  the  bitter  end.  Having  been  previously  slavo 
traders,  and  the  influx  of  immigrants,  as  well  as  an  un- 
congenial climate,  rendering  slavo  labor  unprofitable, 
they   gradually    commenced    the    abolition   of    slavery 


PURITAN   DUPLICITY.  67 

amongst  themselves,  and  forthwith  began  a  systematic 
assault  upon  the  institutions  of  the  States  which  retained 
it.  By  stealth,  and  loud  professions  of  self-righteousness, 
their  aggressions  increased;  until  at  length  they  had 
the  country  divided  by  an  unconstitutional  line  of  de- 
markation,  indicating  their  portion  of  the  land  as 
supremely  Christian,  and  the  other  as  eminently  pagan. 
Notwithstanding  that  they  themselves  had  bought,  or 
kidnapped  from  Africa,  and  sold  as  merchandise,  the 
very  negroes,  or  their  ancestors,  over  whom  they  now 
shed  crocodile  tears,  they  resolved  upon  annoying  those 
who  were  the  possessors  and  owners  of  them,  and  in  due 
time  to  rob  them  of  their  property.  Thus  they  com- 
menced that  unchristian  agitation,  whereby  the  peace  of 
our  country  was  distracted,  and  the  happiness  of  the 
negro  diminished.  Sworn  to  protect  and  uphold  the 
Federal  Compact ;  and  the  Constitution  having  specially 
provided  for  the  protection  of  slave  property — northern 
legislators  soon  converted  official  perjury  into  a  morality, 
and  organized  themselves  into  a  political  league  of  pro- 
fessional negro  stealers.  Having,  by  satanic  promises 
and  fair  words,  charmed  away  many  of  those  docile  and 
credulous  creatures,  they  abandoned  them  to  their  own 
unfortunate  fate,  or  shipped  them  naked,  hungry  and 
helpless,  to  the  frigid  climates  of  Canada  or  Newfound- 
land. Even  those  of  them  who  remain  in  the  abolition 
States,  are  deprived  of  all,  or  nearly  all,  natural,  social, 
and  political  rights.  In  most  of  these  States  the  negro 
is  debarred  from  the  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise. 
In  others,  before  he  can  vote,  he  must  have  a  specified 
property  qualification.  In  the  great  commercial  empo- 
rium of  the  late  Union,  New  York,  he  is  not  permitted 
to  ride  in  a  public  omnibus.     He  can  be  accommodated 


08  CAUSK    AND    CONTRAST. 

in  tho  city  railroad  cars,  only  in  those  which  arc  desig- 
|  on  the  outside  as  being  privileged  to  him;  and 
n  are  limited  to  a  few  lines.  Indeed,  amongst 
the  abolitionists  generally,  the  negro  is  degraded,  a 
bond  and  ;m  outcast — the  butt  of  huinor  and  ribald 
jot — a  machine  for  crime,  or  for  the  villain  and  blackleg's 
dirty  work — and  always  used  as  the  medium  of  self- 
lau lation  by  the  hypocrite ;  as  the  temple  was  by  the 
Pharisee.  lie  is  seldom  employed  by  the  white  man — 
never  when  it  can  be  avoided,  unless  as  a  barber,  a 
cartman,  or  a  table-waiter.  lie  is  not  associated  with, 
but  by  persons  of  his  own  class  and  color.  As  a  general 
rule,  he  is  neither  a  lawyer  nor  an  editor;  never  the 
white  man's  parson.  Even  the  pews  of  the  Christian 
churches,  excepting  those  of  the  Roman  Catholic  denom- 
ination, arc  closed  against  him.  Tho  people  do  not 
understand  him — do  not  care  for  him — feel  that  they 
have  no  special  interest  in  him — have  no  sympathy, 
that  is  not  purely  objective,  with  him — and  treat  him 
only  as  a  medium  of  "moral"  excitement,  precisely 
as  they  have  used  for  fashionable  purposes,  the  opera, 
Maria  Monk,  Ileenan,  the  carcass  of  Bill  Poole,  Barnum, 
and  Louis  Kossuth. 

Whenever  Fagan,  the  mentor  of  David  Coppcrfield, 
desired  to  rob  successfully,  he  raised  the  cry  of  "stop 
thief,"  in  order  to  transact  business  and  retreat  safely. 
So  when  our  "philanthropists"  wish  to  avert  our  gaze 
fr.un  the  misery  at  their  doors,  which  ia  of  their  own 
making,  they  seek  to  rivet  tho  attention  of  mankind 
upon  "  the  poor  negro  slaves "  of  the  Southern  Con- 
federacy. Tliey  forget,  or  are  wilfully  blind  to  the 
fact,  that  "infanticide  in  Nottingham  or  Birmingham, 
and  slavekv  in  Manchester  or  Leeds,"  were  more  awful 


ENGLISH   COAL   MINES.  G9 

and  abominable  to  the  humane  sensibilities  of  Charlotte 
Elizabeth,  than  narrations  of  Indian,  Chinese  or  Afri- 
can misery.  Imagine  an  English  or  Scottish  coal  mine, 
dark  as  midnight,  and  relieved  only  by  the  flicker  of  the 
miner's  lamp — deprived  of  a  single  breath  of  air — a 
subterranean  charnel-house  of  living  woe  !  Behold  there 
the  young  wife — the  yet  infant  daughter — girdles  around 
their  waists,  with  wooden  cars,  heavily  loaded  with  coal, 
attached  by  iron  chains  thereto,  and  drawn  by  them 
along  the  seams  of  the  mines,  as  if  humanity  were 
horses  and  asses.  "But  look  at  these  unfortunates," 
says  the  North  British  Review — the  infant  serfs  of  a 
neglected  rural  district!  Look  at  them  physiologically — 
observe  their  lank,  colorless  hair,  screening  the  sunken 
eye  and  trailing  on  the  bony  neck ;  look  at  the  hollow 
cheeks,  the  candle-like  arms,  and  unmuscular  shanks 
that  serve  them  for  legs  "  !  Yes  !  look  at  these  "  unfor- 
tunates "  first  entering  the  appalling  darkness  of  a  coal 
mine  at  the  tender  age  of  nine,  and  then  and  there 
commencing  their  long  and  endless  apprenticeship  of 
misery.  They  rarely  reach,  without  regard  to  sex, 
the  age  of  twelve,  before  their  sorry  life  of  toil  begins. 
In  those  mines  they  remain  whole  weeks,  during  the 
winter  season,  without  beholding  the  sun  except  upon 
the  Sabbath  or  some  rare  chance  occasion.  Crowded 
together,  both  sexes  indiscriminately,  semi-nude  or 
totally  naked — there  they  arc  with  delicacy  and  mo- 
rality   dead    within    them. 

The  proportion  of  female  children  employed  in  the 
mines  of  East  Scotland  is  incredibly  large.  Theyare  com- 
pelled to  carry  coal  upon  their  backs  up  steep  la<]  lers,  and 
thus  remain  employed  at  least  twelve  hours  oat  of  every 
twenty-four.     Night  work  is  a  matter  of  ordinary  practice 


7   '  AND   CONTRAST. 

in  those  districts,  and  the  poor  children  are  not  unusually 
participator!  in  it.    Six  mpnthfl  even  of  such  labor*  is 

iterially  change  and  deform  the  physical  structure, 
to  injure  the  whole  system,  and  to  impair  the  mental 
faculties.  Not  five  per  centum  of  these  "unfortunates'* 
know  how  to  read  or  write  ;  and  but  few,  if  any  of  them, 
are  Capable  of  putting  syllables  or  words  respectably 
together.  The  state  of  education  in  the  coal  fields  of 
Lancashire  is  still  worse,  lb  ire  there  can  hardly  bo 
found  a  collier,  or  a  collier's  child,  with  the  slightest 
rudiments  of  learning.  Indeed,  throughout  the  coal 
regions  of  Great  Britain  generally,  ignorance,  imbecility, 
irreligion,  profanity  and  immorality,  arc  of  stupendous 
universality.  Young  men  and  women  arrive  at  the 
of  maturity  without  the  slightest  conception  of  the  ex- 
istence of  a  living  God  !  They  never  join  in  prayer  or 
go  to  Church.  They  have  no  idea  of  the  Saviour  of 
man  or  of  His  mission.  Some  of  them  have  never  heard 
of  Christ  or  His  apostles,  unless  by  accident  They  do 
not  know  how  to  repeat  the  Lord's  prayer ;  in  fact,  they 
speak  then  own  language  bo  barbarously  as  to  be  almost 
incomprehensible.  They  do  not  hold  in  general  regard 
the  I  of  marriage  ties.     Illicit  intercourse  and 

.ail  to  a  fearful  extent  in  their  midst. 
Drunkenness  and  crime  are  general  amongst  them.  In 
a  word,  they  are  heathens  in  a  Christian  land,  and 
surrounded  by  all  the  accessories  of  heathen  misery, 
within  call  of  the  blatant  boasts  of  a  so-called  Christian 
"philanthropy." 

Nor  i-  the  condition  of  the  metal  workers  of  Bir- 
mingham, Wolverhampton,  Sheffield,  and  the  minor 
manufacturing  places  of  Scotland,  Worcestershire  and 
Lancashire,  less  painful.    Here,  "in  various  departments 


BRITISH   MECHANICAL   LIFE.  71 

of  this  species  of  manufacture,  many  thousands  of  chil- 
dren, of  both  sexes,  are  employed.  They  begin  to  work 
generally  about  the  eighth  year;"  and  they  are  bound 
to  perform  more  than  twelve  hours  of  labor  each  day. 
The  workshops  in  which  they  are  placed  are  not  unfre- 
quently  several  feet  beneatli  the  earth  of  a  damp  soil; 
they  are  generally  located  upon  unpaved  back-yards, 
or  other  unfrequented  places — in  the  dirtiest  streets, 
in  narrow  courts  and  blind  alleys — surrounded  by  the 
gutters  and  sewers  which  carry  away,  or  are  the  deposi- 
taries of,  the  effluvia  of  the  city.  And  the  poor  children 
employed  in  such  places  arc  mercilessly  and  shamelessly 
abused ;  often  kicked,  beaten  with  sticks,  horsewhips 
and  leathern  straps ;  sometimes  stricken  down  with  the 
clenched  fist  or  burned  with  red  hot  irons.  Nor  is  the 
life  of  adults  without  its  excruciating  miseries.  The 
grinders  of  cutlery  are  always  conscious  of  the  stealthy, 
but  speedy  approach  of  death.  The  inhalation  of  the 
dust  of  the  grind-stone  and  the  steel  is  so  pernicious  to 
their  health,  that  they  rarely  average  the  age  of  thirty- 
five  ;  yet  these  "unfortunates"  are  said  to  be  opposed 
to  the  use  of  the  dust  flue,  regarding  with  jealousy 
whatever  increases  longevity,  since  life  is  full  only  of 
sorrow  and  evil  to  them.  They  live  in  a  state  of 
drunkenness,  prostitution,  adultery,  and  godlcssncss — 
removed  equidistant  from  the  virtue  of  pure  savagcism, 
and  the  restraints  of  religion  and  civilization. 

But  it  would  be  at  once  vain  and  harrowing  to  pursue 
this  deplorable  theme.  Let  it  suffice  to  say,  that  tlio  life 
of  the  collier  and  the  metal  manufacturer  only  fairly 
typifies  the  condition  of  other  and  various  operatives. 
The  special  and  general  condition  of  those  employed  in 
the    cotton    factories   is    uniformly    similar ;    while    the 


,  2  CA  '    CONTRA 

c  of  evil  and  degradation  the 

industrial  system  of  the   British  Idea — the  poor 

ind  milliners,  m  their  garrets  and  cellars, 

included.      Children,    not    yet    seven    years    old,    labor 

twelve  or   fourteen   hours  at  the   former  bnsin<  B8  ;   while 

story  of  the   latter   we   will    allow    Sir    James 

Clarkr.  one  of  Her  Majesty's  physicians,  to  relate.     "I 

have   found  the  mode   of   life  of   these   poor  girls,"  he 

;i   a<  no  constitution  could  hear.     Wurked 

from  six  in  the  morning  till   I  .:   uight,  with  the 

q  of  short  intervals  allowed  for  meals,  in  close 

rooms,  and   passing  the   few  hours  allowed   for  rest  in 

still   more  close  and   crowded   apartments — a  mode  of 

life  i  Calculated  to  destroy  human   health 

could  scarcely ta  contrived .3  and  at  this  |  life 

when  exercise  in  the  open  air  and  a  due  proportion  of 

are    essential    to    the    development    of    the   system. 
Judging    from    what     I     have     observed     and     heard,    I 

scarcely  believed  that  the  system  adopted  in  our  worsi- 
lated  manufa  itruotive  of  health 

as  the  life  of  the  young  dressmaker."     "In  the  mi 

I   h;i  '  to,"   writes    Douglas   .letrold,  ono 

of  the  mast  giftedj  genial,  and  humane  of  English 
authors,  "  1  have  stood  upon  the  mud  lloor,  over  tho 
corpse  of  the  dead  mother  and  the  new-horn  infant — 
both  the  rrctims  of  want.  I  have  seen  a  man  (God's 
image)  stretched  on  straw,  wrapped  only  in  a  mat,  re- 
sign hie  breath,  from  starvation,  in  the  prime  of  life.  I 
have  entered,  On  a  sultry  summer's  night,  a  small  house, 
situate  on  the  hanks  of  a  common  sewer,  wherein  ono 
hundred  and  twenty--e\ vii  human  heings,  of  both  SCXC3 
and  all  ages,  were  indiscriminately  crowded.  I  havo 
been  in  the  pestilential  hovels  of  our  great  manufactur- 


IRISH    MISERY.  73 

ing  cities,  -where  life  was  corrupted  in  every  possible 
mode,  from  the  malaria  of  the  seAver  to  the  poison  of  the 
gin-bottle.  I  have  been  in  the  sheds  of  the  peasant, 
worse  than  the  hovels  of  the  Russian,  where  eight 
squalid,  dirty,  boorish  creatures  were  to  be  kept  alive 
by  eight  shillings  [less  than  $2]  per  week,  irregularly 
paid.  I  have  seen  the  humanities  of  life  desecrated  in 
every  way.  I  have  seen  the  father  snatch  the  bread 
from  his  child,  and  the  mother  offer  the  gin-bottle  for 
the  breast,"  &c.  &c.  And  all  this,  alas !  in  free,  happy , 
and  merrie  England!  How  mournful  a  satire,  and  yet 
a  fact. 

But  could  all  this  tragic  misery  be  compared  with 
what  we  have  witnessed  of  woe,  wretchedness,  and 
despair  in  Ireland  ?  We  have  seen  there  such  calami- 
ties as  words  could  not  shape  with  raiment.  We  have 
seen  the  famishing  infant  seek  to  draw  life  and  suste- 
nance from  the  bosom  of  its  mother's  corpse.  We  have 
seen  villages  laid  waste  and  whole  townlands  depopulated. 
We  have  looked  upon  the  landlord  apply  the  blazing 
torch  to  the  hovel  of  his  vassal.  We  have  seen  the 
patient  stricken  with  typhoid  fever  ejected  from  his 
thatched  cottage,  and  left  to  perish  beneath  the  incle- 
ment sky  of  a  December  night.  We  have  beheld  the 
"charity  of  the  public  works"  from  the  beginning  to 
the  ending  of  that  accursed  Bjstenu  We  have  soon  the 
peasant  breaking  stones,  gathered  by  his  little,  naked 
and   starving  children,   on  the  sides  of  th<  and 

bleakest  mountains,  to  Macadamize  imaginary  highv. 
and  all  for  five  or  six  pence  a  day.      We  have  seen  men 
and    women    barefooted,   and    f<»r    similar    wages,    make 
•  roads  through  shaking  bogs  and  swampy  marshes, 
where  a  snipe  would  scorn  to  peck,  until  dropsy  seized 


74  CAYFE   AND    CONTRAST. 

them,  and  their  limbs  became  as  swollen  as  if  they  bad 
d  of  dough,  and  under  the  influence  of 
Wi  bave  looked  upon  the  faces  of  youthful 
men  and  maidens  deformed  by  the  down  of  hunger  and 
starvation,  until,  like  withered  flowers,  they  dropped 
into  premature  graves.  Wi  have  gazed  upon  the  dead 
bodies  of  starved  hundreds  in  the  workhouses.  Wi 
have  seen  the  dead  carried  to  the  grave  on  the  backs 
of  asses,  followed  but  by  two  attendants.  We  have 
known  the  churchyards  to  have  been  rifled  of  their  prey 
by  hungry  dogs.  Not  the  misery  which  makes,  the 
glory  of  the  battle-field — not  the  hospital  agonies  which 
follow  after — not  the  amputation  of  limbs  or  the  re- 
moval of  the  devouring  cancer — not  what  Dante  saw  in 
Ifalebolge,  where  Ugolino  wept  and  Buffered — could  com- 
pare with  the  potent  wretchedness  and  despair  produced 
by  the  relentless  "Worm  of  Hunger,  which  then  gnawed 
the  Irish  heart.  It  was  a  plague  not  paralleled  in  terror 
and  destructiveness  by  the  plagues  of  Athens  and  of 
ncc.  The  thirst  of  Tantalus,  which  is  eternal  and 
unquenchable — the  pain  of  Tityus,  upon  whose  liver 
the  vulture  forever  preys-^were  here  realized  upon  a 
giganti.-  BCale.  Ireland  was  depopulated  of  two  mil- 
lions of  her  inhabitants,  by  the  retreat  of  the  emigrant, 
and  by  the  remorseless  scythe  of  the  Angel  of  Death; 
lamentations  of  woe  were  heard  throughout  the  land, 
and  the  abominations  of  desolation  reigned  supreme. 

And  yet  all  this  British  and  Irish  misery  transpired, 
or  is  still  transpiring,  upon  the  very  threshold  of  Exeter 
Hall  !  It  was  within  the  hearing  and  seeing  even,  of 
her  grace,  the  Duchess  of  Sutherland.  But  it  was 
policy  to  conceal  such  evils.  Philanthropy  was,  or  is, 
too  deeply  occupied  with  the  negro  to  expend  any  of  its 


HYPOCRISY  OF  PHILANTHROPY.         75 

"charity"  upon  the  starving  white  wretches,  who  stood, 
or  stand,  trembling,  and  almost  lifeless,  at  its  doors. 
Blind  to  the  excruciating  slavery  that  surrounds  it,  it 
sounds  the  tocsin  of  pity  and  sympathy  on  behalf  of  the 
well  fed,  well  clothed,  and  well  cared  for,  negroes  of 
America — who,  in  all  the  relations  of  physical  well- 
being  and  domestic  happiness,  are  as  far  above  the 
operatives  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  as  Dives  was 
above  Lazarus.  With  brazen  effrontery,  Satanic  du- 
plicity, and  refreshing  mendacity,  in  the  very  teeth  of 
such  appalling  facts  as  we  have  above  set  forth,  from 
British  writers  and  of  our  known  knowledge,  the  organ 
of  English  abolitionists — The  London  Morning  Chron- 
icle—  coolly  exclaims:  "  The  over-worked,  under-fed, 
miserably-clad,  and  wretchedly -lodged  \_ncgro~]  slaves,  have 
been  compelled,  as  a  means  of  repressing  their  intelligence, 
to  work  in  iron  collars,  to  sleep  in  the  stocks,  to  drag 
heavy  chains  at  their  feet,  to  wear  yokes,  bells  and  cop- 
per horns;  to  stand  naked  while  their  masters  brand 
them  infamously,  to  have  their  teeth  drawn,  to  have  red 
pepper  rubbed  into  their  excoriated  flesh,  to  be  bathed 
in  turpentine,  to  be  thrust  into  sacks  with  mad  cats,  to 
have  their  fingers  amputated,  to  be  shaved,  and  to  be 
whipped  from  neck  to  heels  with  red-hot  irons." 

Now,  this  is  a  fair  and  brief  illustration  of  the  strategy 
of  hypocrisy.  The  Chronicle  has  not  one  word  of 
kindness,  sympathy,  or  commiseration  for  the  poor, 
"over-worked,  under-fed,  miserably-clad,  and  -wretchedly- 
lodged"  white  slaves  of  Scotland,  Lancashire,  Worcester- 
shire, ami  Ireland;  but  its  indignation,  wailing,  and 
lamentations,  in  the  cause  of  the  American  negro, 
outrivals  the  wild  complaints  of  deserted  ami  peis0H6d 
Fhiloctctcs.     And  yet,  there  is  not  a  statement — not 


CAUSE   AND    CONTRAST. 

a  syllable  or  a  word,  approaching  to  a  statement — in 
vntlictic  quotation  which  we  make  from  this  anti- 
v  journal,  which  is  not  a  malignant,  )  and 

diabolical  falsehood.  There  is  not  now,  and  there  never 
been,  another  industrial  population  upon  the  face  of 
this  earth,  better  cared  for  or  better  treated — happier 
or  more  contented,  in  general,  than  the  black  servants 
of  the  Confederate  States.  They  constitute  a  portion 
of  the  family  —  a  part  of  the  household  gods  —  of 
their  owners.  In  sickness  or  in  health,  in  joy  or  in 
sorrow,  they  fly  to  their  masters  or  mistresses,  for  sym- 
pathy and  encouragement;  and  their  appeal  is  rarely,  if 
ever,  made  in  vain.  Cruel  masters — men  destitute  of 
the  finer  feelings  and  sensibilities — may,  and,  indeed, 
undoubtedly  do,  exist;  precisely  as  there  are  in  all 
countries,  and  among  all  people,  cruel  parents,  guar- 
dians, and  master  mechanics.  But  as  a  general,  almost 
as  a  universal,  rule,  the  sympathy  between  master  and 
slave  is  mutual,  kind,  and  sincere.  It  is  cemented  by 
duty,  affection,  and  a  common  dependence  upon  each 
other.  But  lest  the  slave  should  be  Subjected  to  mal- 
treatment, the  law  casts  the  mantle  of  its  protection 
around  him  :  the  power  of  life  and  limb  is  not  in  the 
master's  hands.  In  nine,  at  least,  of  the  Confederate 
States,  the  homicide  of  a  slave  is  declared  murder,  by 
statutory  acts ;  and  the  slave  is  justified  for  the  killing 
of  a  man  in  self-defence.  In  some  of  the  States,  if  the 
slave  satisfies  the  courts  that  he  has  been  cruelly  treated 
by  his  master,  he  will  be  granted  his  freedom.  In 
others,  if  he  is  not  comfortably  fed  and  clothed,  and 
from  such  usage  is  driven  to  the  perpetration  of  theft, 
the  master  is  held  responsible  for  that  which  he  steals. 
But  the  best  bulwark  of  his  rights  is  derived  from  social 


HUMANITY   OF   SLAVERY.  77 

laws  and  usages.     And  so  it  is  now,  and  ever  has  been, 
among  all  civilized  peoples. 

Mr.  Lane  informs  us  that  the  Arabs  and  the  Turks 
deem  it  disreputable  and  reprehensible  to  set  free 
an  aged,  maimed,  sick,  or  helpless  slave.  "  Indeed ! 
you  surely  cannot  be  so  cruel :  what  would  become  of 
the  poor  slaves  if  they  were  free" — exclaimed  the  Vizier 
of  the  Shah  of  Persia,  upon  being  informed  by  the  British 
ambassador,  that  his  master  would  set  free  those  of  the 
Persian  slaves  who  had  fallen  under  his  jurisdiction. 
Of  the  serfs  manumitted  in  the  Baltic  provinces  of 
Russia,  Mr.  Kohl  says,  that  "  formerly  a  noble  could 
not,  by  any  means,  get  rid  of  his  serfs ;  and,  whenever 
they  were  in  want,  he  was  forced  to  support  them. 
At  present,  the  moment  a  peasant  becomes  useless  and 
burdensome,  it  is  easy  to  dismiss  him ;  on  account  of 
which  the  serfs,  in  some  part  of  the  provinces,  would  not 
accept  of  the  emancipation  offered,  and  bitterly  lamented 
the  freedom,  as  it  was  called,  which  was  forced  upon 
them.  The  serf  often  mourningly  complains  that  he  has 
lost  a  father  and  kept  a  master;"  and  the  lord  informs 
them,  in  refusing  to  grant  their  little  requests,  that  they 
are  no  more  his  children.  This  feeling  is  permanent, 
sacred,  and  almost  universal  amongst  the  negro  slaves 
of  the  American  plantations.  President  Madison  once 
gathered  around  him  all  of  his  numerous  slaves.  He 
explained  to  them  his  motives  in  calling  them  together, 
and  offered  to  manumit  them  if  they  desired  to  be  free. 
But  they  instantly  and  unanimously  declined.  They 
reasoned,  with  a  sounder  philosophy  than  their  betters 
might  have  done,  that  they  were  born  upon  his  estate — 
that  they  were  attached  to  the  locality  and  to  their 
master — that  in  sickness  or  in  health   they  had   been 


78  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

provided  for  by  him,  'with   raiment,  food,  and  medical 

-that   if   set   free,    they   would    have    no   home    to 

or  parental  friend   to   protect,  them — and   that 

furnished  them  with  all  that  impart!  hap- 

>  to  life,  peace,  plenty,  and  security,  they  preferred 

it  to  a  nominal  freedom  of  uncertainty  and  prccariousness 

in  its  consequences.* 

Nor  was  their  decision  cither  strange  or  unnatural. 
The  relations  of  kindness  and  sympathy  which  exist  in 
the  Southern  States  between  the  negro  and  his  master, 
are  incomprehensible  to  Northerners  and  Europeans ; 
and  seem  incredible  to  both.  For  instance,  over  the 
very  room  in  which  these  lines  are  written — in  a  second 
story  parlor  of  a  Richmond,  Va.,  mansion, — there  is  a 
negro  woman,  sick  of  consumption,  occupying  the  same 
apartment  with  her  mistress,  attended  daily  by  the  family 

*  Siuce  writing  the  above,  we  have  perused  the  following  notice  in 
the  Boston  Traveller,  an  organ,  next  in  abolition  influence  to  the  New 
York  Tribv 

"The  Will  or  a  Fkee  COXOBJCD  WoKAH  U  PAVOB  OJ  Hit:  BOH,  A 
Slave. — An  ng<  woman,  Mined   Ann  Jackson,  died  In  this 

city  a  few  months  Since,  Leaving  $800  in  the  Savings 

Bank)  the  accumulation  of  deposits  made  from  time  to  time  during  the 
■Mi  twenty-five  yours.  She  was  formerly  s  slave  at  EUohmond,  and 
.■•  house  servant  of  a  wealthy  and  respecta- 
ble gentleman   of  that   city.      By  Ikt  but  will   she  leave-  her  property 

to  W.  L.  Peabody,  Esq.)  of  Lynn,  in  trust  for  the  benefit  of  her 

who  she  said  did  not  desire  his  freedom,  or  in  ease  of  his  death  fur  his 
children.  A  correspondence  was  opened  with  gentlemen  in  Richmond, 
by  which  it  was  ascertained  that  her  son  was  perfectly  contented,  and 
has  a  family  of  five  or  six  children,  slaves  like  himself  Assurances 
were  given  that  nny  money  sent  to  '  Sam '  would  be  scrupulously 
used  for  his  benefit,  but  in  consequence  of  the  present  war  it  is 
deemed  best  to  hold  on  to  the  money  for  the  present,  and  place  it  at 
interest,  in  the  hope  that  it  may  at  no  distant  day  be  of  substantial 
benefit  to  the  person  for  whom  it  was  intended." 


ANECDOTES   OF   SLAVERY.  79 

physician,  and  watched  over  with  more  than  motherly 
affection  and  solicitude.  While  passing,  for  the  first 
time,  in  the  month  of  April,  1SG1,  through  the  States 
of  Georgia  and  Alabama,  we  accompanied  a  high-toned 
and  accomplished  Southern  lady,  attended  by  her  negress 
servant,  both  of  whom  eat  luncheon  out  of  the  same 
dish  and  drank  out  of  the  same  silver  cup ;  a  freedom  or 
leniency,  which  at  that  time  appeared  to  us  singularly 
strange  and  revolting.  But  we  soon  discovered  that  the 
child  of  the  master  and  the  slave  were  often  nursed  from 
the  same  bosom ;  we  witnessed  the  black  and  white  chil- 
dren mingle  together  in  mutual  fellowship,  and  build  in 
common  their  mimic  summer-houses  and  summer-gardens; 
and  we  thought  how  impossible  it  was,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances of  habitual  life-association,  for  the  same 
feeling  of  repulsion  toward  the  degraded  race  to  exist 
here,  which  prevails  and  is  fashionable  in  the  Northern 
States. 

A  distinguished  officer  of  the  Confederate  Army  re- 
cently related  an  autobiographical  incident,  which  re- 
minded us  of  the  discovery  of  Ulysses  by  his  nurse. 
In  infancy,  he  said,  his  mother  was  too  feeble  and  sickly 
to  nurture  him,  and  the  food  of  his  young  life  was  drawn 
from  the  breast  of  a  negro  slave ;  her  own  negro  child 
being  nursed  upon  the  other  breast.  Having  arrived  at 
maturity,  he  entered  the  United  States  Navy,  went  to 
sea,  and  remained  absent  from  home  nine  years.  "When 
he  returned,  he  found  his  family  at  a  fashionable  watering 
place — his  sister,  a  married  woman  and  a  mother.  Itha- 
cus-like,  he  did  not  discover  himself,  but  entered  into  a 
conversation  with  the  latter,  which  was  by  her  regarded 
as  painfully  familiar.  Meanwhile  the  old  black  nurse  en- 
tered, knew  him  instantaneously,  flung  her  ebony  arms 


80  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

around  his  neck,  and  tenderly  kissed  him  upon  the  lips, 
"til  blesa  her,"  he  added,  "I  thought  more  of  her 
frank  embrace  than  I  could  of  the  caresses  of  youthful 
and   beautiful,    but   colder   and   conventional   pretenders. 

During  the  assault  upon  Fort  Sumter  a  negro 
slave  resolved  to  carry  his  young  master  fresh  water 
in  defiance  of  the  enemy's  fire.'  A  citizen  remon- 
strated, stating  that  "Aiid'T-un  would  shoot  him"  for 
his  temerity.  "No!  no!  master,"  was  the  reply,  "he 
dare  not  do  so,  for  if  he  did  my  young  master  icould 
call  liim  to  account  for  /'(."  The  confidence  of  this  slave 
in  the  face  of  danger  is  easily  accounted  for,  from  the 
fact  that  every  negro  has  full  reliance  in  his  master's 
■willingness  and  capacity  to  protect  him.  Nor  is  this  be- 
lief founded  upon  delusion.  A  wrong  done  to  a  slave,  or 
an  insult  even  offered  to  him,  is  speedily  resented,  and 
sometimes  bloodily,  by  his  owner.  A  few  years  ago  the 
wealthiest  citizen  of  the  State  of  Georgia  was  shot,  in 
endeavoring  to  avenge  the  wrongs,  real  or  imaginary,  of 
his  negro  servant.  One  of  the  bloodiest  fights  between 
two  men  that  we  have  ever  witnessed,  was  upon  a  race 
course  in  Florida,  and  having  a  similar  cause  fur  its  ori- 
gin and  purpose. 

But  the  kindliness  with  which  the  slave  is  generally 
treated,  is  best  illustrated  by  the  great  distance  which 
removes  him  from  want  or  destitution.  In  the  cities, 
towns  and  villages  of  the  South,  the  slave  population  aro 
better  clad  than  the  mechanics  of  any  country  in  Europe. 
They  are  never  found  penniless,  like  the  less  fortunato 
industrial  classes  of  other  countries ;  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, some  of  them  have  money  when  their  superiors 
are  without  it.  We  have  known  two  brother-slaves,  hack- 
drivers  in  Montgomery,   Alabama,   to  have   subscribed 


THRIFT   OF   SLAVES.  81 

several  hundred  dollars  toward  the  loan  demanded  by  the 
Government  of  the  Confederate  States.  The  negro  man, 
Charles,  who  waits  upon  us  daily,  purchased  his  own 
freedom,  and  that  of  his  wife  and  three  children,  for  the 
round  sum  of  three  thousand  dollars ;  and  although  he 
earns  now  about  one  thousand  dollars  annually,  (out  of 
which  he  is  necessitated  to  support  his  family)  he  unhesi- 
tatingly regrets  his  error  in  buying  his  freedom.  An- 
other slave,  once  the  property  of  a  Richmond  vintner, 
paid  $1500  for  his  freedom,  and  is  now  a  "free  "  citizen 
of  Ohio,  barefoot  and  almost  shirtless,  while  his  brother, 
still  a  slave,  is  respected  in  Richmond,  and  with  a  Bank 
account  of  some  consideration.  Now,  here  are  two  ne- 
groes, who,  while  held  to  "slavery,"  amassed  more 
money  than  all  the  laborers  of  any  county  in  Ireland,  or 
shire  in  England,  can  save  in  a  generation.  He  who 
bought  his  own  freedom,  and  that  of  his  family,  and  still 
resides  in  a  slave  State,  earns  more  in  one  year  than  is 
earned  in  two  by  any  ordinary  Northern  mechanic ;  but 
he  who,  having  bought  his  freedom  through  the  kindly 
munificence  of  slave-owners,  chose  a  "free"  State  as 
his  home,  is  now  drinking  the  very  dregs  of  the  cup  of 
misery  and  vice. 

The  author — born  a  British  subject — arrived  in  New 
York  in  1849,  where  he  resided  till  the  spring  of  1861. 
During  that  time  the  general  characteristics  and  social 
status  of  the  negro  in  that  State  were :  degradation, 
laziness,  theft,  and  extreme  poverty  and  licentiousness. 
At  the  South,  on  the  other  hand,  he  is,  no  matter  whether 
slave  or  free,  removed  from  all  of  these  vices,  the  latter 
excepted.  We  know  of  several  slaves,  now  employed  as 
porters  by  respectable  merchants,  whose  honesty  has 
been  repeatedly  tested  by  their  masters  dropping  at 
6 


82  CAUSE   AND   CONTRAST. 

night  sums  of  money,  varying  in  value  from  five  cents 
to  twenty  dollars,  upon  the  floors  which  they  had  to 
sweep  in  the  morning,  but  which,  in  every  instance,  were 
voluntarily  restored.  Perhaps,  indeed,  this  honesty  of 
theirs,  instead  of  being  intuitive  and  founded  upon  abso- 
lute rectitude,  is  merely  intellectual  and  the  result  of 
cunning  speculation.  They  have  all  that  their  hearts 
could  desire,  suitable  to  their  station  and  condition  of 
life.  Their  whims  are  gratified ;  their  blunders  and 
idiosyncracies  regarded  in  the  light  of  humor,  and  their 
gay,  costly  garments  viewed  with  pride,  by  all,  or  n6arly 
all,  of  their  respective  masters  and  mistresses.  And 
their  general  intelligence  is  greatly  underrated  by  those 
who  are  unacquainted  with  them.  We  have  known  men 
in  Ireland,  who  did  not  know  the  English  alphabet,  yet 
in  that  tongue  could  narrate  stories  and  speeches  from 
the  "Iliad"  of  Homer;  gathered,  of  course,  from  the 
lips  of  some  village  pedagogue,  or  (like  the  Arab  Sheik) 
itinerant  prodigy  who  succeeded  to  the  ancient  bard,  and 
lived  by  his  wit.  And  so  of  the  negro  slaves ;  there 
arc  a  large  per  centage  of  them  who  can  "  read  and 
write,  and  cipher  too."  They  know  and  inculcate  that 
while  there  are  idleness  and  starvation  in  the  Northern 
States — while  stagnation  of  business  and  bankruptcy 
there,  throws  every  few  years,  hungry  and  cold,  the  labor- 
ing classes  out  of  employment,  fireless,  foodless,  clothe- 
less — while  long  processions  of  poverty  and  sorrow- 
stricken  women,  with  their  famishing  infants  clinging  to 
their  milkless  breasts,  roam  the  streets  of  the  Atlantic 
cities,  imploring  their  masters  in  vain  for  bread* — the 


*The  following  is  the  recent  testimony  of  an  unkindly  and  unwilling 
witness — an  organ  at  present  of  the  Northern  Government — the  New 


WHITE  AND  BLACK  SLAVES.  83 

blacks  of  the  Southern  States  are  secured  in  the  posses- 
sion of  every  blessing  of  which  those  unfortunate  whites 
are  pitilessly  robbed.  They  know  and  inculcate,  that 
while  agrarianism  and  bread  riots  convulse  society  in  the 
Eastern  and  Northern  States,  their  brother  slaves  around 
them  can  eat,  drink,  dance,  sing,  and  make  merry,  in 
peace ;  as  if  sadness  and  want  had  flown  from  the  earth. 
In  brief,  whoever  upon  the  face  of  this  planet  may  hun- 
ger or  thirst — may  suffer  for  the  ordinary  necessaries  or 
conveniences  of  life — the  negro  population  of  America 
are  not  of  them. 

Here,  then,  is  the  race — or  the  branch  of    a    race, 
rather — in  whose  name  and  behalf  a  terrible,  unnatural, 


York  Herald.  Speaking  of  destitution  in  the  Metropolitan  district  of 
New  York,  it  says:  "  The  Census  Marshals  return  114,960  paupers 
in  the  Metropolitan  district,  wholly  or  partially  supported  at  the  public 
expense  during  the  year.  Thus  we  see  that  about  one  in  every  ten  of  our 
population  was  either  wholly  or  in  part  supported  at  the  public  expense. 
This  is  independent  of  a  large  number  supported  by  private  charity, 
for  which  our  citizens  are  proverbial.  The  number  of  criminals  con- 
victed within  the  year  in  the  Metropolitan  district  zvas  50,958 — thus  show- 
ing that  **•••••  though  freedom  is 
the  normal  condition  of  the  white  man,  he  drags  at  every  step  the 
galling  chain  of  inferiority  in  social  life.  Here,  among  one  million 
two  hundred  thousand  people,  one  person  in  every  ten  is  wholly  or  in 
part  aided  by  public  charity.  Would  it  not  be  better  to  reflect  seriously 
on  this  condition  of  social  life  before  we  make  war  on  the  institution 
under  which  the  physical  comforts  of  the  laboring  classes  are  well 
provided  for?  The  fact  that  within  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  the 
slave  population  has  about  doubled — increased  from  two  to  four  mil- 
lions— shows  that  in  physical  comforts  and  general  good  treatment 
they  have  little  to  complain  of.  That  they  arc  happier  than  the  free 
blacks,  both  North  and  South,  no  one  can  truthfully  deny ;  that  they  are 
better  cared  for  in  sickness,  have  more  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  than  the 
great  body  of  the  laboring  white  class  in  the  free  States,  is  equally  evi- 
dent:' 


81  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

and  devastating  civil  war  has  been  fomented — reclaimed  as 
are,  from  the  barbarism,  not  only  of  their  origin  and 
ancestors,  but  from  that  of  their  innate  nature ;  and  ele- 
vated, in  the  scales  of  moral  and  doctrinal  Christianity  and 
civilization,  to  a  degree  never  known  before  to  any  equal 
number  of  their  family.  But  for  many  long  years  this  cru- 
sade of  aggression  upon  the  constitutional  rights  of  the 
South,  and  of  revolution  in  the  Federal  Union,  has  been 
assiduously  prosecuted  by  the  politicians  and  intellectual 
classes  in  the  abolition  section  of  the  States.  Their 
journals  teemed  with  malignant  vilification  of  the  South 
— with  studied  and  exaggerated  misrepresentation  of 
Southern  institutions,  resources,  and  even  Christianity. 
The  family  relations,  the  unimpeachable  virtue  of  fe- 
males, the  honor  and  courage  of  brave  and  heroic  men — 
all  and  each  formed  the  staple  theme  of  Northern  scur- 
rility, libel,  and  wilful  falsehood.  Popular  applause 
greeted  the  labors  of  the  infamous  slanderer ;  and,  like 
the  informer  who  measures  his  gains  by  the  corpses  of  his 
victims,  he  advanced  in  popular  favor  in  proportion  as  he 
became  the  successful  traducer  of  his  country.  Even 
the  most  respectable  publishing  houses  became  infected 
with  this  vile  disease.  A  few  years  since,  all  merito- 
rious or  standard  literature  was  repulsed  from  their 
presses,  and  negro  tales  and  romances,  written  from  the 
stand-poirit  of  Caucasian  sentimental  sympathy,  could 
only  hope  to  meet  with  success.  Books  like  "  Dred," 
"  Solomon  Northrup,"  and  "  Ida  May,"  became  the 
fashion  of  the  day.  Publishers  who  but  recently  had  been 
bankrupt,  rose  to  opulence,  and  in  one  instance  retired 
from  business,  upon  the  profits  of  such  publications. 

Yet,  during  the  continuance  of  this  aggressive  and  prag- 
matical carnival,  crime  prospered;  and  squalid  wretch- 


•  MRS.    STOWE   AND   SISTERS.  85 

edness  surrounded  those  who  were  sounding  the  trumpet 
of  freedom  and  servile  insurrection  in  the  negro's  ear. 
Misery,  drunkenness,  pollution,  degradation,  barbarism, 
irreligiousness,  lawlessness,  and  utter  obliviousness  of 
shame,  virtue,  manliness,  Briarcan  and  Hydra-headed, 
stalked  forth  through  Anne  street  of  Boston,  and  the 
Five  Points  of  New  York. 

Our  task,  however,  must  be  performed  with  delicacy ; 
we  arc  constrained  to  wear  the  visor  of  refinement ;  wc  can 
neither  be  analytical  or  particular.  But  Mrs.  Harriet 
Beecher  Stowe  is  a  New  England  lady — one  of  no  ordinary 
intellectual  endowments — like  Josephus,  of  clerical  origin; 
and  were  it  not  that  like  him,  she  is  also  a  renegade  from 
truth,  patriotism,  and  humanity — might  have  been  a  phi- 
lanthropist. It  is  computed  that  from  her  region  of  the 
country,  there  are  in  the  city  of  New  York  alone,  eighteen 
thousand  females — daughters  of  the  Puritans — forever  lost 
to  decency,  womanly  virtue,  pure  maternity,  God  and  so- 
ciety. Indeed,  most  of  the  unfortunate  professional  pros- 
titutes of  this  great  land,  remarkable  for  their  beauty  and 
attractions,  have  been  turned  out  upon  the  world,  seduced 
victims,  from  the  factories  of  New  England;  not  one  chris- 
tian to  be  found  to  redeem  one  victim  of  them  from  this 
holocaust  of  sin  and  despair  !  Poor  creatures  !  they  are 
constrained  to  make  of  their  own  hearts  the  temples  of 
their  souls'  tragedies,  without  a  commiserating  word  of 
kindliness  or  hope  from  a  cold  and  hypocritical  world — 
every  one's  hand  against  them,  and,  necessarily,  their 
hands  against  every  one.  It  was  reserved  for  a  French- 
man, the  younger  Dumas,  to  cffecctively  raise  his  voice  in 
behalf  of  this  class  of  miscrables — to  preach  unto  the  cal- 
lous hearts  of  society,  the  greatest  sermon  that  has  been 
preached  since  the  days    of  Chrysostom — through   the 


86  OATJSH    AND    CONTRAST.  • 

Dame  aux  Cameliat.     Mary,  the  Bister  of 
and  Mary,  the  Mother  of  God,  did  not  de 
Mary,   the    Magdalene.       Bnt,  like   the    Pharisee    who 
spurned   the  Publican,   Mrs.   Stowc  was  blind,  and  deaf, 
senseless,  to  the  living  woe  of  her  fallen  New  Eng- 
land sisters.     Yet  she  would  not   be  idle;  she  would  be 
the  feminine  Loyola  of  the  New  Hemisphere';  bnt  she 
trim  with  the  current :  .-he  had  not  the  spirit 
LthanasioB,  to  confront  y  opinion;  her  voice, 

and  the  influence  of  her  pen,  were  to  be  wielded  in  regene- 
rating the  already  regener  roes  of  her  neighbor*. 
She  wrote  and   had  published  "l:  Tom's  Caiun." 
It  was  a  fraudulent  and  virulent  assault  upon  the  South- 
ern  institution   of    "  Slavery."     It  was   translated  into 
several  of  the  European  tongues.      Amongst   others,  it 
tone  and  relish  to  the  Munchausenisms  of  the  Lon- 
don  Chronicle.     The  Pharisaical  crowd  at  home  applaud- 
ed and  exalted  the  effort.     Henceforward  the  authoress 
to  be  ranked  above  Cervantes  and  De  Foe.     "Uncle 
Tom"  was  to  be  as  immortal  as  "  Robinson  Crusoe."    But 
Uty   and   obedience  i  '   are   rcmem- 

i  -.  while  the  supernal  ethics  of  Tom  are  ranked  with 
the  miraculoi  of  Balaam's  ass.      We  do  not 

mean  to  '  but  simply  critical.     "Were  it  not 

for  the   teachings  of    Christian   Caucasian   masters,  the 

Louisiana  negro  would  hardly  have  sung  religious  para- 
phrases of  David's  I'-alms.  "Were  it  not  for  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Angel  and  Balaam,  it  is  equally  doubtfyil, 
whether  the  Israelitish  quadruped  would  have  outstripped 
his  brethren  of  the  same  species  in  inspiration,  and  ut- 
tered prophecies  of  supernatural  import. 

"What,  then,  could    have  been   the  motive  of  all  this 
agitation — of  all  these  slanders — of  all  this  belligerent 


FACTS   AGAINST   FICTION.  87 

literature  ?  We  can  understand  why  St.  Columban 
penetrated  England  and  Scotland,  and  crossed  over  to 
Germany  and  Switzerland ;  and  why  St.  Francis  Xavier 
confronted  the  hostile  Japanese.  It  was  to  make  con- 
quests under  the  banners  of  the  Cross,  and  redeem 
heathen  souls.  A  similar  holy  purpose  nerved  French 
Jesuits  to  explore  our  American  forests,  and  brave  the 
dangers  of  famine,  of  the  stake,  and  the  tomahawk.  But 
the  negroes  upon  behalf  of  whom  Mrs.  Stowe  and  her 
abolition  coadjutors  had  written,  and  spoken,  and  done 
so  much,  were  already  prosperous  and  contented,  rela- 
tively civilized  and  christianized.  If  their  love  for  this 
species  of  mankind  was  exemplary,  all  Africa,  in  full  and 
primeval  barbarism,  and  semi-civilized  and  degenerate 
Ilayti,  Jamaica,  Guiana,  were  open  to  their  zeal. 

The  progress  of  the  negro  race  in  the  Slave  States  is 
remarkable  and  unexampled.  At  the  era  of  our  inde- 
pendence, there  were  in  all  of  the  thirteen  original 
States,  composing  the  then  Federal  Union,  but  little 
more  than  600,000  slaves — twelve  of  these  being  slave 
States.  Of  those,  seven  became  afterward  free  States, 
leaving  out  of  the  thirteen,  to  the  South,  but  five.  Yet 
there  is  at  the  South  to-day  a  slave  population  of  between 
four-and-a-half  and  five  millions  of  slaves ;  happier  and 
better  cared  for  in  every  physical  and  spiritual  relation, 
than  any  other  equal  numbers  of  industrial  classes  upon 
the  face  of  the  globe.  Nay,  but  the  slaves  are  generally, 
in  every  clement  of  utility,  respectability,  and  refine- 
ment, far  in  advance  of  the  free  negroes  of  the  slave 
States  even.  "As  to  a  free  negro  hiring  himself  out  for 
plantation  labor,"  writes  Mr.  Lewis,  seventeen  years 
before  the  act  of  British  emancipation,  "  no  instance  of 
such  a  thing  was  ever  known  in  Jamaica ;  and  probably 


88  AND    CONTRAST. 

no  price,  hov  at,  "would  be  considered  by  them  as 

ficieat  temptation."     And  the  same  is   true  of  the 

five    DegTO   everywhere.      In    1839,    one   year   after   the 

mancipation,  the  exportation  of  sugar  from  the 
Island  of  Jamacia  had  fallen  off  8,460  hogsheads,  while 

nation  of  coffee,  in  the  same  year,  had  decn 
38,5")  1  hundreds  weight — almost  one-third  of  the  whole 
mount  of  the  preceding  year.  Between  1840  and 
1853,  there  were  one  "hundred  and  nbty-eight  sugar 
8  wholly  abandoned,  and  sixty-three  partially — 
valued  three  years  after  the  emancipation  at  nearly  eight 
and  a  half  millions  of  dollars.  Of  coffee  plantations, 
there  were  twenty  partially,  and  two  hundred  and 
twenty-three  completely,  deserted; — valued  in  the  same 
year  at  $2,500,000;  -while  of  grazing  farms,  there  were 
one  hundred  and  thirty-two  totally  or  partially  forsaken, 
valued  at  about  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars — making 
a  gnnd  total,  in  seven  years,  of  over  six  hundred  estates, 
relinquished  to  barbarism  and  decay,  and  valued  forty 
years  ago  at  nearly  §13,000,000.  Note,  according  to 
John  Bigelow,  one  of  the  editors  of  the  New  York 
/'  ning  I'ost,  "the  finest  land  in  the  world  may  be 
had  at  any  price  and  almost  for  the  asking.  Labor 
receives  no  compensation ;  and  the  product  of  labor 
does  not  seem  to  know  how  to  find  the  way  to  market." 
Estates,  which  once  were  worth  $2,000  per  annum,  do 
not  now  yield  the  value  of  their  cultivation.  The  busy 
hum  of  the  mills  and  machinery  of  capitalists  are  silenced 
in  Jamaica.  The  freed  negroes,  in  sloth  and  idleness,  bask 
in  the  sunshine,  upon  what  were  formerly  the  planta- 
tions of  their  master-.  While  the  intrepid  Englishman  is 
sacrificing  his  life  beneath  a  burning  sun,  the  negro  lives 
by  stealing,  or  carrying  away  as  a  matter  of  course,  the 


BRITISH   EMANCIPATION.  89 

yams  which  grow  spontaneously  upon  the  plantation  of 
the  former.  "Where  were  formerly  the  race-course  and 
the  theatre — where  the  city  rose  in  pride,  and  happy 
faces  thronged  the  market-place — there  are  to-day  ruin 
and  desolation ;  rats  and  negroes  disputing  their  respec- 
tive claims  to  squatter  sovereignty,  and  nettles  and  ivy 
ornamenting  the  site  of  public  buildings. 

Even  British  Guiana — once  the  garden  of  gardens — 
has  become  a  wild  forest  again — swamps  and  wild  beasts 
having  taken  the  place  of  cultivation  and  civilized  man. 
All  along  the  banks  of  the  Demarara  river,  before 
emancipation  blossoming  like  the  rose,  and  covered  with 
plaintains  and  coffee,  there  are  now  misery,  desolation, 
broken  bridges,  and  impassable  roads.  Essequibo,  and 
its  once  famous  Arabian  coast,  formerly  the  boast  of 
British  colonists,  is  now  almost  a  desert  waste.  And 
the  fate  of  Berbice  is  no  better.  Of  its  18,000  black 
inhabitants,  twelve  thousand  have  degenerated  to  a  con- 
dition of  pure  savageism,  and  withdrawn  from  all  indus- 
trial pursuits  in  ignorance  and  idleness.  In  1829,  the 
district  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Berbice  river,  gave  em- 
ployment to  nearly  four  thousand  slaves ;  whereas  there 
are  hardly  five  hundred  persons  employed  there  now. 
The  whole  is  rapidly  becoming  one  vast  swamp  ;  and,  to 
use  the  language  of  the  historian,  Alison:  "the  negroes, 
who  in  a  state  of  slavery  were  comfortable  and  prospe- 
rous beyond  any  peasantry  in  the  world,  and  rapidly 
approaching  the  condition  of  the  most  opulent  serfs  in 
Europe,  have  been  by  the  act  of  emancipation  irretrieva- 
bly consigned  to  barbarism." 

The  same  may  be  said  of  Ilayti,  once  the  pride  of  the 
ocean,  now  a  political  curse  and  social  ulcer,  with  the 
monstrous  tragedy  of  which  the  reader  cannot  be  unac- 


90  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

quainie  I.  Etol  i  Bpierre,  Danton,  P.rissot,  and  other  blood- 
hounds and  incarnate  devils,  of  the  French  Revolution, 
calling  tl  .  and  anticipating  the 

wards,  Garrisons,  PhiUipses,  and  Parkers, 
of  the  North,  stimulated  the  negroes  of  this  unfortunate 
Island  into  a  servile  and  barbarous  insurrection.  The 
atrocities  which  ensued  are  without  parallel  in  the  most 
diabolical  annals  <>f  crime.  "  The  victorious  slaves,"  says 
Alison  in  his  ".History  of  Europe," — "marched  with 
spiked  infants  on  their  spears  instead  of  colors;  they 
I  asunder  the  male  prisoners,  and  violated  the 
females  on  the  dead  bodies  of  their  husbands."  And 
whin  this  demoniacal  work  of  unutterable  brutality,  in 
the  drama  of  llaytien  ''liberty"  was  completed — what 
followed?  The  Bttgar  exported  from  this  Island  in  the 
year  IT  :.  mounted  to  072,000,000  pounds.  In  180G, 
i  years  after,  the  exportation  had  fallen  to 
47,516,531  pounds.  Nineteen  years  later,  in  1825,  the 
exportation  of  sugar  from  llayti  was  2,020  pounds,  and 
in  m  trs  more  it  had  entirely  ceased !     Thus,  by 

in    to   the    llaytien    negroes,    in    the   short 
space    of   forty-tlii!  e    years,    humanity    and    civiliaat 

deprived,  in  the  aggregate,  of  28,896, 000,000 
pounds  of  sugar  and  the  Queen-Island  of  the  seas 
relinquished  to  barbarism,  desolation,  brutal  licentious- 
ness, and  crime  in  every  hideous  form.  In  a  condition 
of  slavery,  the  negro  may  prove  himself  to  be  a  most 
useful,  interesting,  and  affectionate  animal;  but  he  will 
not  work  without  a  master.  The  experiment  of  Joshua 
1!.  biddings — the  most  generous  and  sincere  of  all 
American  abolitionists — exemplifies  this.  lie  had  a 
large  tract  of  land  settled  by  negroes,  upon  each  of 
whom  he  bestowed  a  portion  of  it,  with  all  of  the  implc- 


PHILANTHROPY   INCONSISTENT.  91 

merits  necessary  to  the  farmer.  In  a  few  years  the 
village  was  deserted,  the  land  remained  waste  and  un- 
cultivated, and  Mr.  Giddings  was  constrained  to  confess 
that  his  black  Eutopia  was  but  a  fond  and  idle  dream. 

"  Oh !  for  the  rarity  of  Christian  charity  under  the 
sun."  Mrs.  Stowe  labored,  like  iEsop's  mountain,  until 
from  the  depths  of  her  great  heart  she  brought  forth 
"  Uncle  Tom;"  over  which  the  whole  North,  and  all  Eu- 
rope, uttered  loud  lamentations,  and  cries  of  commise- 
rating anguish,  that  would  have  put  the  grief  of  the 
three  ladies  of  Bagdad  to  the  blush.  The  South  was 
anathematized,  and  banished  from  the  communion  table 
of  international  polity,  because  her  plantations,  like 
those  of  Hayti  and  the  British  West  Indian  Islands,  were 
not  turned  over  to  ruin,  decay,  and  primeval  barrenness; 
and  her  slaves  placed  upon  the  highway  of  degeneracy 
and  barbarism.  It  mattered  not  that  she  yielded  to  civ- 
ilized man  an  annual  revenue  of  nearly  two  hundred  and 
fifty  millions  of  dollars — imparted  labor,  and  therefore  life 
and  happiness,  to  countless  millions  of  human  beings — 
and  clothed,  perhaps,  one-half  of  the  peoples  of  Christen- 
dom. It  mattered  not  that  in  the  year  1800,  there  were  in 
the  United  States  1,087,395  free  blacks,  and  only  893,041 
slaves ;  while  in  1851  the  slave  population  of  the  South- 
ern States  was  3,204,287,  and  the  free  black  population 
of  the  whole  United  States  434,495 — of  which  freemen, 
however,  the  greater  moiety  tedded  in  slave  States.  Be- 
fore she  could  uncover  her  head,  or  kneel  down  to  wor- 
ship, in  the  Pharisee  or  Puritan's  Temple,  she  was  re- 
quired to  place  upon  the  altar  of  fanaticism,  her  wealth, 
happiness,  prosperity,  civilization,  Christianity,  and  hu- 
manity. In  vain  would  she  plead  reason  and  experience. 
In  vain  would  she  appeal  to  the  truths  of  argument.     In 


92  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

vain   would   slio   urge,   that  of  the  fifty  millions  of  souls 
inhabiting  Africa,  four-fifths  are  tie  f  each  other 

— that  the  Southern  slave  is  civilised  and  a  christian — 
an«l,  to  quote  the  words  of  a  talented  -writer,  that  in 
Africa  (where  the  genius  of  our  philanthropists  should 
be  exercised)  "the  master  had  the  power  of  life  and 
death  over  his  slaves  :  that  they  "were  frequently  fed, 
killed,  and  eaten,  like  oxen  and  sheep  in  this  country  ; 
the  hind  and  forequarters  of  men,  Women,  ami  children, 
being  exposed  for  sale  in  the  butcher's  shambles;  and 
the  living  women,  when  not  fattened  for  tabic  delicacy, 
reduced  to  beasts  of  burden."  All  this  could  not  avail : 
the  ultimatum  of  the  abolitionist  was  emancipation. 
Taul,  the  servant  of  Christ — he  who  testified  his  faith 
before  Agrippa — restores  the  white  christian  fugitive  slave 
to  his  white  christian  master,  with  a  promise  to  compen- 
sate the  latter  for  any  damages  he  might  have  suffered 
by  the  absence  of  the  runaway.  The  Bccclier  family, 
wiser  by  more  than  eighteen  centuries,  teach  the  black 
slave  to  become  a  tlciij',  ami  .steal  himself  from  his  lawful 
r.  The  good  Las  Casas,  Adrian  Y.,  and  the  follow- 
er! of  St.  Jeronn.  tfed  Blavery,  as  the  best  mis- 
sionary means  of  civilizing  and  christianizing  the  negro  ; 
but  better  the  kraal  of  tie  8,  the  barracoon,  and 
the  carnival  feast,  in  the  estimation  of  the  abolitionist, 
than  the  contentment  of  the  plantation  and  the  paternity 
of  the  master's  mansion.  As  late  as  the  17th  century, 
Bossuet — the  greatest  of  modern  Divines — declared  that 
to  condemn  slavery  was  to  condemn  the  Holy  Spirit — 
Christ  and  St.  Faul ;  but  Mrs.  Stowo  would  doubtless 
regard  him  as  speaking  by  inspiration  of  the  devil,  and 
"Uncle  Tom  "  preferable  to  the  Bible  which  so  educated 
him.     Fenelon,  the  kind,  plastic,  and  benevolent  Bishop 


DIVINITY   VS.   BEECHERISM.  93 

of  Cambray,  coincided  with  Bossuet,  however.  "  Fare- 
well " — says  Minerva,  in  the  guise  of  Mentor,  and  then 
the  slave  of  Hazael — "farewell,  my  dear  Telemachus  ; 
the  slave  who  fears  the  gods,  cannot  dispense  with  his 
obligation  to  attend  his  master.  The  gods  have  made 
me  the  property  of  another ;  and  they  know  that  if  I 
had  any  right  in. myself,  I  would  transfer  it  to  you 
alone."  But  the  lesson  of  the  Beechers  for  the  slave, 
on  the  contrary,  is  to  give  his  master  a  long  night  and 
bloody  blanket. 

And  yet,  oh !  Beecher  family,  we  must  be  pardoned 
for  not  accepting  you  as  our  mentors,  in  preference  to 
those  great  and  good  men.  The  purpose  for  which  God 
created  them,  we  can  readily  conceive.  His  motives  in 
imparting  life  to  you  and  other  troublesome  insects — 
mosquitoes,  for  instance — are  hidden  from  our  finite  view, 
and  wrapt  up  in  His  own  infinite  and  inscrutible  wisdom. 


XIV. 

Mankind  are  so  constituted  that  some  are  honest  and 
consistent,  while  others  are  dishonest  and  inconsistent : 
between  whom  there  is  naturally  a  perpetual  struggle 
for  ascendancy.  As  in  social,  so  in  political  life — the 
ascendancy  of  evil  men  upon  the  abasement  of  the  vir- 
tuous, will  produce  political  disasters,  or  bring  society  to 
chaos.  Where  virtue  and  integrity  have  forsaken  the  bo- 
soms of  the  majority,  no  form  of  Government,  however 
excellent — no  system  of  political  expediency — no  consti- 
tution or  written  codes — no  artificial  barriers,  erected 
against  tyranny  by  the  wisdom  of  sages,  can  withstand 
the  insidious  and  persistent  encroachments  of  those  who 


CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

corrupt   and    in    whose   hearts  love  of  country 
There,  tyranny  and  usurpation  are  the  substitutes 
of  justice  and  moderation;  nsarpatioh,  like  Reynard  in 

irh  of  a  pilgrim,  sits  mantled  in  the  purple  of  the 
law;  the  favorite  has  the   place   of  the  patriot ;   and  the 

[uious   flatterer   hurls  the  an   from   his 

:H:ti)n  a%  '  -it.     The  adminis- 

tration of  government  is  wrested  from  the  hands  of  the 
trustworthy,  and  placed  at  the  disposal  and  uncontrolled 
pleasure  of  some  one  man,  who  deals  with  public  affairs 
in  accordance  with  his  agreeable  caprice,  and  to  the 
gratification  of  an  army  of  partisan  sycophants.  This 
fortunate  individual  can  gratify  vanity  and  avarice — can 

id  obedience  and  subserviency,  with  honor,  office, 
and  emolument — and  can  cover  the  opposition  of  lion 
with  obloquy,  confusion,  and  dismay.  So  long  as  the 
patriot  persists  in  resisting  the  march  of  the  tyrant  over 
the  ruins  of  liberty,  so  long  he  will  be  the  target  of  mis- 
representation, and  the  victim  of  the  poisoned  tooth  of 
slander — denounced  as  a  demagogue  by  the  venal  and 
the  vile — and  hounded  ewii  as  a  traitor  by  the  yelping 
pack  of  their  powerful  master.  But  the  moment  he  buc- 
cumba — the  moment  he  betrays  the  interests  of  the  Na- 
tion— that  moment  he  regains  his  lost  influence  ;  he  can 
become  a  patron  and  benefactor;  his  coders  may  be  en- 
riched with  spoils  from  off  the  shroud  and  coffin  of  his 
country.  His  sacrifice  of  popularity  is  rewarded  with 
the  traitor's  purse,  and  his  mission  henceforward  is  to 
educate  the  people  to  relinquish  liberty  and  acquiesce  in 
political  profligacy.  Who  can  doubt  the  truthfulness  of 
this  photograph?  Let  the  skeptic  reflect  upon  the  fate 
of  such  patriots  as  Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky,  and  Val- 
landigham,  of  Ohio,  in   the  late  Congress  of  the  United 


NORTHERN   INIQUITIES.  95 

States.  They  manfully  resisted  the  usurpation,  and  op- 
posed the  unconstitutional  aggressions,  of  the  sectional 
tyrant;  they  were,  in  return,  subjected  to  the  tortures  of 
vilification,  insult,  outrage,  and  vulgar  abuse.  Were 
they  formed  of  such  clay  as  the  recreant  Richardson,  of 
Illinois,  or  the  base  Scott,  who,  like  Athenian  Hippias, 
endeavored  to  enslave  his  mother  State,  they  would  have 
been  rewarded  by  the  grimaces  of  Lincoln's  Court,  and 
the  fulsome  adulations  of  the  general  herd :  for  virtue 
had  forsaken  the  hearts  of  the  people  in  that  section  of 
our  land.  The  United  States  had,  but  a  few  months  pre- 
viously, a  Constitution  and  a  Form  of  Government, 
which  were  wont  to  be  the  boast  of  30,000,000  of  free- 
men, the  admiration  of  the  civilized  world,  the  day-dream 
of  hope  to  the  oppressed  nationalities,  and  the  stumbling 
block  of  kings  and  tyrants.  But  the  men  of  the  North, 
maddened  by  a  pampered  prosperity,  and  impatient  of 
rivalry,  eschewed  justice  and  rectitude,  refused  to  grant 
their  partners  of  the  Federal  system  political  equality, 
and  proud  in  their  strength  of  numbers  and  in  the  asser- 
tion of  an  iniquitous  abstraction — they  trampled  upon 
the  Constitution  and  set  the  laws  at  defiance ;  elected  a 
President  pledged  to  ruin  the  interests  and  to  confiscate 
the  property  of  one  section  of  the  country ;  rejected  all 
measures  of  compromise,  concession,  or  conciliation  ;  in- 
sulted and  misrepresented  the  minority,  while  violating 
their  legally  guaranteed  rights  ;  and,  finally,  waged  a 
Avar  of  subjugation  and  extermination,  against  a  people 
whom  they  claimed  to  be  still  their  fallow-citizens — their 
natural  allies — their  kindred  of  blood  and  lineage — and, 
surely,  their  best  patrons  and  supporters.  Having  been 
long,  and  wo  may  add,  justly,  deprived  of  the  adminis- 
tration of   public    affairs — pregnant  with    avarice,    and 


f'G  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

hungering  for  office  and  patronage,  they  beat  the  rounds 
of  every  wind  of  doctrine  in  political  chance,  and  tri- 
umphed at  length  upon  a  platform  of  anti-slavery  fanati- 
cism. Before  they  had  thus  succeeded  in  the  elevation 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency,  they  had,  for  more 
than  twenty-five  years,  encroached,  in  many  outrageous 
forms,  upon  the  sovereign  independence  of  the  Southern 
States.  The  Federal  Constitution  rendered  the  restora- 
tion of  fugitive  slaves  a  moral  and  political  duty ;  the 
Northerner  observed  this  injunction  by  robbing  the  slave- 
owner and  stealing  away  the  slave — all  in  the  name  and 
for  the  greater  glory  of  God  !  Singularly  enough,  the 
parents  of  these  moralists — who  teach  the  negro  the  una- 
postolic  Christianity  of  stealing  hhnself — were  those  who 
stole  from  their  homes,  and  sold  for  the  highest  penny, 
the  Angola  ancestors  of  our  present  slaves.  They  grew 
wealthy  and  powerful  by  the  gigantic  commerce,  and 
notwithstanding  that,  by  international  law,  this  traffic  has 
been  declared  piracy,  their  offspring  still  cling  to  the 
profitable  practice.  The  slavers  which  prowl  along  the 
coasts  of  Guinea,  arc  Northern  or  New  England  ships, 
manned  by  North*  in  or  New  England  pirates.  There  is 
not  one  of  these  vessels  which  lands  her  human  cargo  in 
the  coves  or  corners  of  Cuba  or  Florida,  that  is  not 
owned  by  a  Puritan  abolitionist.  Having  placed  the 
price  of  his  victims  to  the  credit  of  his  account,  he  seeks 
to  whitewash  himself  in  sight  of  Heaven  and  man,  by 
endeavoring  to  rob  the  purchaser  of  the  very  goods 
which  he  had  himself  previously  sold  to  him;  realizing 
the  poet's  picture  of  the  hypocrite : 

" with  one  hand  ho  put 


A  penny  in  the  urn  of  chart/;/, 

And  with  the  other  took  a  shilling  out." 


TWIN    SLAVE   TRADERS.  97 

There  is  nothing  easier,  in  this  world,  than  for  dupli- 
city to  screen  its  own  iniquity,  beneath  the  assumed 
envelope  of  philanthropy, — always  worn  by  the  trans- 
gressor at  the  expense  of  others.  The  abolitionist  has 
ever  been,  and  is  now,  in  so  far  as  the  system  can  be 
clandestinely  practised,  the  decoyer,  the  importer,  the 
seller,  of  the  negro ;  the  Southerner  is  his  owner,  civil- 
izer,  christianizer — his  best  friend,  his  adopted  parent, 
his  guardian  by  force  of  interest  and  duty.  Of  his 
relations  toward  the  slave  the  latter  is  proud ;  the 
former  ashamed,  even  unto  sensitiveness.  Social  pro- 
scription is,  as  it  ever  has  been  and  will  be,  the  fate  of 
the  slave-trader;  but  to  avoid  this  odium,  the  North- 
erner, like  Saturn,  would  devour  those  upon  whom  he 
was  the  first  to  place  the  manacles  of  bondage. 

The  partner,  however,  if  not  the  teacher,  of  New 
England  in  the  slave  trade,  was  Old  England ;  precisely 
as  both  have  recently  been  partners  in  their  aggressive 
and  inconsistent  anti-slavery  crusades.  Toward  the  close 
of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  full  value  and  utility  of 
the  negro  was  discovered. 

England,  with  much  to  boast  of  that  is  grand  and 
glorious  in  the  history  of  liberty,  has  her  escutcheon 
tarnished  by  deeds  of  gross  injustice,  and  unrivalled 
iniquity.  "While  tenacious  of  the  freedom  of  her  own 
immediate  children,  she  deprived  the  other  peoples  who 
had  the  misfortune  to  fall  under  her  sway,  of  this 
precious  right.  Even  the  inhabitants  of  the  counties 
palatine  of  Durham  and  Chester,  within  her  own 
borders,  were  once  oppressed  by  her  as  aliens  and 
enemies.  For  more  than  two  hundred  years,  she  treated 
Wales  as  a  conquered  province.  Her  career  in  Scotland 
was  long  a  career  of  cruel  wrong,  rapine,  and  carnage. 
7 


98  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

And  seven  centuries  of  blood,  persecution,  and  sculp- 
tured tyranny,  have  ineflaceably  fixed  the  traces  of  her 
Hrtgt  upon  that  ghastly  ghost,  commonly  called  4' the 
Iritdi  Nation."  The  vain  attempt  to  inaugurate  a  similar 
policy  upon  this  continent,  stripped  her  haughty  diadem 
of  its  fairest  and  most  precious  jewel ;  but  ere  we  had 
separated  ourselves  from  her,  she  had  imparted  to  us  the 
institution  of  African  servitude'. 

It  is,  indeed,  true,  that  the  importation  of  negro  si: 
to  the  new  world  was  first  instituted  by  Spain;  but  in 
adopting    the    policy,    the    m     ..  :'    England    were 

entirely  different — were  altogether  Belfish  and  commer- 
cial. Spain,  while  enslaving  the  African,  was  bent  upon 
christianizing  and  civilizing  him  ;  of  benefiting  him  and 
alleviating  the  condition  of  hit  -.     The  pious  Las 

Casas   saw   the   Indians   perish — mclti:  .   in    faot, 

from  the  face  of  the  earth,  beneath  the  yoke  of  bond- 
age;— and  combining  the  qualities  <>f  a  statesman  with  his 
attributes  of  a  Christian  divine,  he  recommended  tho 
importation  of  negroes,  as  being  naturally  and  physi- 
cally In'!'  1  to  the  labor  and  climate  of  the  Smith. 
IK-  urged,  too,  that  thit  wot  the  only  feasible  j>hin 
win  reby  their  barbarous  heathenism  could  ever  bo 
brought  under  the  dominion  of  tho  Cross;  and  in  this 
opinion  the  Hyeromite  monks  and  the  Cardinal  Tortosa, 
arc  said  to  have  coincided.  Forthwith  the  African  slave 
trade  became  dzed  and  lucrative  branch  of  Span- 
ish oommi 

But  England,  under  the  enterprising  rule  of  Elizabeth 
(into  whose  heart  pity  or  remorse  never  found  entrance, 
•while  self-interest  Btood  in  the  way),  profiting  by  the 
discovery,  outrivalled  Spain  in  the  traffic,  and  built  upon 
it  nearly  all   of   her   present   wealth   and   ascendancy. 


TWIN    SLAVE    TRADERS.  99 

During  a  period  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-four  years, 
she  was  the  most  famous  negro  catcher  that  the  world 
had  ever  seen  ;  having  reduced  over  five  millions  of  them 
to  slavery.  In  little  more  than  one  century — from  1702 
to  1807 — she  had  millions  of  them  imported  into  the 
Island  of  Jamaica  alone.  Upon  the  head  of  every 
slave,  so  imported,  she  had  laid  a  specific  duty ;  varying 
from  five  shillings,  in  1719,  to  five  pounds  about  the 
year  1774.  It  is  estimated  that  the  revenue  which  she 
dircctl}r  derived  from  the  slave  trade,  amounted  to  the 
enormous  sum  of  $3,000,000,000  !  And  throughout  her 
brilliant  career  in  the  prosecution  of  this  "peculiar," 
but  golden  branch  of  commerce,  the  merchants  of  New 
York,  Rhode  Island,  and  Massachusetts,  so  far  as  their 
means  and  capacities  would  admit,  zealously  emulated 
her  example ;  until,  at  length,  they  were  enabled  by  its 
profits,  directly  and  indirectly,  to  cope  in  wealth  and 
enterprise  with  the  parent  State.  The  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  however,  interposed,  and — whether  wisely 
or  unwisely  it  matters  not  now,  but  certainly  in  obe- 
dience to  a  then  prevailing  sentiment  of  "  humanity  " — 
prohibited  the  continuance  of  the  slave  trade  from  and 
after  the  year  1808.  It  may,  in  this  connection,  be 
worth  while  to  observe,  that  this  measure  was  sus- 
tained by  the  representatives  of  Southern  States ;  but 
strenuously  opposed  by  those  of  New  England  States. 
Meantime,  the  British  colonists  of  Jamaica  became 
clamorous  and  rebellious.  They  were  not  scant  of  black 
labor-power,  and  they  sternly  protestt  t   the  op- 

pressive duties  placed  by  the  mother  country  upon  the 
imported  negro.  These  circumstances,  and  the  powerful 
sentiment  of  opposition  to  slavery  at  home — which  finally 
resulted  in  the  complete  ruin  of  Jamaica,  Dominica,  and 


AND    CONTRAST. 

-induced  England  to  follow  the  example  of  our 
(then)  own  Government. 

itain  would  not  be  idle.  She  would  have  new 
uions.  She  wouhl  have  other  slaves.  She  fixed 
her  gaze  on  India.  The  work  of  conquest  and  Buoj li- 
gation began,  and  200,000,000  of  human  beings  were 
ground  to  earth.  In  the  short  space  of  seventy-three 
years  she  Stripped  unfortunate  India  of  §200,000,- 
000,000  !  And  it  is  upon  this  enormous  sura,  added  to 
the  great  wealth  wrung  from  the  body  of  the  negro,  that 
the  pillars  of  her  supreme  power  among  the  nations  rest 
to-day. 

The  participation  of  Southerners  in  the  slave  trade 
was  purely  negative.  They  simply  purchased  negroes 
of  those  who  imported  and  sold  them.  They  necessarily 
became  their  owners,  directors,  and  protectors.  When 
American  Independence  w  ished,  the  white  popu- 

lation of  the  thirteen  States  then  composing  the  Federal 
Union,  was  three  million8J  and  the  servile  population 
more  than  our  hajf-million.  But  beneath  the  benign 
inllucncc  and  fostering  care  of  indulgent  masters,  the 
quota  of  this  latter  number  which  belonged  to  the  six 
Southern  States  of  the  old  Confederacy,  have  so  in- 
oreas'ed  and  multiplied,  as  to  show  a  population  in  the 
South,  at  present,  of  between  four  and  five  millions  of 
slaves*— valued  at  more  than  §4,000,000,000  I 


*  The  negro,  no  matter  whether  bond  or  free,  prospers  and  in- 
at  the  .South  much  latter  than  he  docs  in  the  North.  Thus  : 
In  1790  there  were,  all  bold,  68,080  negroes  at  the  North  :  :!2,t;:!o  freo, 
and  057,047  slave  iu  the  .South.  In  1850,  in  the  eighteen  Freo  States, 
there  but  196,994  blacla  ;  while  in  the  fifteen  Slave  States  there  wcro 
,  ;7  free  and  8,204,061  slaves — making  in  all,  at  the  South,  a 
negro  population  of  3,412,788. 


INCONSISTENCY   AND   HYPOCRISY.  101 

The  inconsistency  of  the  vendors  of  the  nucleus  of  all 
this  great  property,  in  making  war  upon  the  vendees  for 
holding  it,  is  only  paralleled  in  impudent  'wickedness,  by 
their  greed  for  increase  of  wealth  through  the  profits  of 
its  labor.  For  it  is  not  extravagant  to  assert — it  is  truth- 
ful to  the  very  letter — that  there  is  not  now,  and  that 
there  never  has  been,  an  equal  number  of  industrials 
upon  the  face  of  this  planet,  whose  habitual  employments 
have  so  largely  contributed  to  the  commerce  and  riches 
of  mankind  —  the  produce  of  whose  labor  is  so  indis- 
pensable in  supplying  the  necessary  wants  of  the  human 
family — and  upon  whom  the  employment,  sustenance,  and 
principal  hopes  of  life  and  well-being,  of  so  many  millions 
of  souls  imperatively  depend,  as  upon  the  African  slave 
population  of  America — represented,  at  the  North,  in  its 
institutional  characteristics,  as  immoral,  infamous,  inhu- 
man !  But  do  moral  men  hire  their  mansions  to  be  used 
as  brothels  ?  Or  do  they  love  to  fatten  upon  the  wages 
of  prostitution  ?  While  the  agency  of  the  planter  in  the 
slave  is  to  feed,  clothe,  and  shelter  him,  the  English 
and  Northern  abolitionists  peddle  the  produce  of  his 
labor  throughout  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe ;  thus 
enhancing  the  value  of  slavery  whilst  decrying  it,  and 
anointing  their  consciences  with  the  jackal's  share  of 
the  profits.  By  mechanical  discoveries  and  contrivances, 
they  have  helped  to  enlarge  the  area  of  Slavery  and  to 
make  it  perpetual  as  an  institution.  The  invention  of 
the  cotton-gin  in  America,  and  of  the  cotton-jenny  in 
England,  increased  the  value  of  the  negro  slave,  and 
opened  to  the  white  man  vast  avenues  of  industry,  lead- 
ing to  wealth  and  security — harmonizing,  it  may  be  said, 
frc*c  and  slave  labor.  Before  the  cotton-gin  was  in- 
vented, to  clean  a  pound  weight  of  cotton  was  esteemed 


102  AJTO     CONTRAST. 

the  daily  labor  of  a  single  hand ;  but  by  moans  of  this 

uious  contriva  imilar 'hand  can  now  clean 

pounds  in  the  same  length  of  time.     And  so,  previ 

to  the  inventions  of  "Watt  and  Ilargrave,  and  the  im- 
provements thereon  of  Arkwright  and  Crompton,  ono 
white  man  could  clean  for  the  cards  one  pound  of  cotton, 
another  card  it,  and  a  third  work  one  spindle  ;  now,  one 
man  can  clean  each  d  pounds,  another  card  that 

quantity,  and  a  third  work  2200  spindles. 

The  various  uses  to  which  the  produce  of  slave  lahor 
is  converted  by  civilized  nations,  the  moneys  derived 
from  it,  and  the  souls  that  are  dependent  upon  it,  almost 
border  upon  the  infinitude  of  numbers.  It  is  estimated 
that  there  arc  in  England  between  five  and  six  millions 
of  human  beings  who  derive  their  livelihood  from  cotton 
alone.  The  slave  has  kept  thirteen  hundred  mills  in 
operation  in  that  country,  and  employed  there  a  capital 
of  nearly  three  hundred  millions  of  dollars — upon  the 
continuance  of  which,  the  safety  of  the  whole  BOcial 
fabric,  and  the  prosperity  of  England,  depends.  Jn  one 
century  he  baa  added  more  than  two  millions  to  the 
population  of  Lancashire.     He  puts  in  motion  over  2500 

■  >  of  spindles  to  hum 
the  music  of  industry,  and  giveti  work  to  some  210,000 
horse-power  looms.  France  and  Germany  are  also  pa- 
trons of  the  slave  and  partakers  of  slave-labor;  and  thcT 
quantity  of  cotton  yarn,  and  cotton  manufactured  goods, 
t«il  to  India,  China,  Egypt,  and  Turkey,  by  Eng- 
land alone,  show  how  much  the  ancient  East  depends 
upon  this  Southern  institution.  Great  Britain  exports 
annually  to  Other  countries,  (the  raw  material  having 
been  a  philanthropic  contribution  of  slave-labor  towards 
the  clothing  of  mankind,)  in  the  vicinity  of  2,500,000,000 


THE  slave's  produce.  103 

yards  of  plain  and  dyed  manufactured  cotton  good3. 
The  cotton  crop  of  America  will  vary  from  four  millions, 
to  four  millions  five  hundred  thousand  bales,  per  annum ; 
and  after  deducting  from  thi3  a  sufficient  quota  for  home 
wants,  the  remainder  will  yield  to  its  owners  in  ready 
cash,  at  least  $200,000,000. 

So  much  for  slavery  and  civilization. 

But  this  is  not  all.  It  is  but  a  mere  iota  of  what 
slavery — the  ramifications  of  which  are  manifold — docs 
for  mankind.  The  cotton  plant,  which  may  bo  termed 
the  adopted  child  of  the  slave,  is  the  most  indestructible 
product  of  Nature's  bosom.  From  the  moment  that  it 
is  placed  out  of  the  hands  of  those  who  sow  and  pick  it, 
its  mission  becomes  mercifully  universal,  hopeful,  and 
vital — imparting  employment  to  untold  millions  of  ope- 
ratives in  every  diversity  of  labor — opening  fresh  chan- 
nels for  the  investment  of  capital  and  the  circulation  of 
money — keeping  society  from  chaos  and  giving  stability 
to  governments — covering  exposed  nakedness  from  the 
blasts  of  winter  and  the  heat  of  summer — saving  from 
bankruptcy,  ruin,  or  starvation,  merchants,  bankers, 
ship-chandlers  and  ship  owners ;  the  common  carrier ; 
the  loaders  and  unloaders  of  cargoes  ;  sailors ;  carders ; 
spinners  ;  weavers  ;  engineers  ;  mechanics  ;  chemists  ; 
dyers  ;  shopkeepers  ;  tailors  ;  sewers  ;  lace-makers ;  mil- 
liners ;  dress-makers  ;  rag-gatherers ;  paper  manufac- 
turers;  printers;  editors;  publishers;  and  so  on,  ad  in- 
finitum. And  yet  this  is  but  a  single  product  of  slave 
labor.  Of  rice,  sugar,  tobacco,  etc.,  we  have  said  no- 
thing. In  the  State  of  Louisiana  alone,  accordi; 
Mr.  Kettcll,  there  are  annually  produced  362,296  I 
heads  of  sugar,  6,327,882  bushels  of  corn,  and  1,91 1,G80 
pounds  of  rice.     The  total  value  of  sugar  exported  to 


104  oausH  and  contrast. 

the  Northern  States,  and  other  foreign  countries,  ex- 
.1,000,000.  The  revenue  derived  by  France 
end  England  from  tobacco  is  computed  at  $40,000,000. 
Hercules,  the  benefactor,  cleaned  out  the  Augean 
.  md  Blew  the  Lerneean  hydra,  among  other  deeds 
of  the  celebrated  twelve  labors  proposed  to  him  by  Juno 
and  Eurj'stheus.  But  the  enterprises  of  the  son  of 
Jupiter  arc  dwarfed  by  the  tasks  set  unto  themselves 
by  the  abolitionists;  with  Lord  Brougham  at  their  head 
ingland^  and  "William  II.  Seward  in  America.  Four 
hundred  millions  of  dollars  worth  of  property  must  be 
destroyed  to  conciliate  the  Furies  that  feed  upon  their 
panic-stricken  consciences.  If  their  assumed  philan- 
thropy were  genuine  and  founded  upon  self-sacrifice — 
if  tlnir  people  were  ready  to  yield  up  the  principal, 
with  interest,  derived  by  them  from  the  slave  trade,  for 
the  liberation  of  the  slave — if  themselves  and  their  con- 
stituents were  even  willing  to  pay  the  owners  of  slave 
property  the  fair  net  valuation  for  the  unparalleled 
sacrifice — if  they  were  prepared  to  show  from  :. 
tamed  and  unquestionable  facts,  how  humanity  and  civil- 
ization would  be  benefited  by  such  a  radical  policy — 
ami  if  they  could  satisfactorily  prove  to  us,  that  a  pro- 
vision of  Bftfety  and  usefulness  was  reserved  for  the 
emancipated  slave — we  could  not  refuse  to  respect  and 
admire  doctrines  which  wc  are  now  constrained  to  term, 
the  vicious  dreams  of  a  cruel  and  heartless  fanaticism. 
No  such  concessions,  however,  find  favor  with  them. 
They  are  to  be  permitted  to  revel  in  their  equivocally 
begotten  wealth,  while  the  slave-holder  must  part  with 
his  all,  or  consent  to  have  his  territory  hemmed  around 
with  a  "wall  of  freedom;" — which  signifies  the  destruc- 
tion of  bis   property  by  means   of  sanctified  robbery. 


ENGLAND   IN   SEARCH   OF   COTTON.  105 

The  helpless  emancipated  slave  is  to  be  deprived  of  a 
home,  comfort,  and  the  parental  guardianship  of  a  mas- 
ter ;  he  is  destined  to  represent  once  more  upon  earth 
the  son  of  Hagar,  without  a  friend  and  without  a  meal. 
The  plantations  which  now  grow  golden  harvests  are  to 
retrogress  to  their  pristine  condition  of  barren  wildness. 
The  cotton  mills,  and  factories,  and  manufactories,  and 
operatives,  of  Europe  and  America,  are  to  stand  idle 
or  starving — all  for  the  glory  of  the  negro  !  Civiliza- 
tion and  progress  must  rein  their  proud  career,  and 
wend  a  backward  course ;  and  men  and  women  must 
return  to  the  domestic  and  political  economy  of  patri- 
archal ages  !  Such  is  the  incongruous  philosophy  of  the 
abolitionist;  ambiguous  as  the  blind  policy  of  Samson, 
who  murdered  himself  in  order  to  murder  others. 

It  has  long  been  the  ambition  of  the  statesmen  and 
philanthrophic  pragmatists  of  Great  Britain,  to  procure 
cotton  for  their  market  from  some  other  source  than 
America.  With  this  view,  they  have  ransacked  China, 
India.  Egypt,  and  Africa.  Their  desire  in  this  respect, 
resulted,  however,  from  an  envious  jealousy  of  the  rapid 
growth  and  power  of  the  late  United  States,  rather  than 
from  any  sincere  affection  for  the  negro.  In  a  debate  in 
the  House  of  Lords,  anti-slavery  philosophy  ventilated  its 
real  and  hidden  motives.  The  Bishop  of  Oxford  piously 
revealed  to  his  noble  compeers,  that  the  best  way  of 
putting  an  end  to  the  Blare-trade  and  successfully  culti- 
vating cotton  in  Africa,  was  to  teach  "the  African  chiefs 
that  the  employment  of  their  dependent  people  [a  delicate 
term,  surely,  for  the  most  barbarous  slavery]  in  the 
production  of  the  ra?/'  material  of  cotton,  would  be  more 
advantageous  than  the  selling  of  them  into  slavery  for 
transportation  into  other  peuriM  of  the  world."     The  evan- 


106  CAU8B    AND    CONTRAST. 

evidently  recognizes  cotton  as  a  kind  of 
fact.     Bat  since  it  is  imj 
bk  U)  grow  the  necessary  supply  of  it  without  forci 
-labor,   lie    considers   it   better    that    its    cultn 
should   be  the    "dependent    people"    of  some   swarthy 

eathen,  rather  than  the  Christian  servant 
an  American  planter.      What  is  BID  in  the  latter  becomes 
virtue  in  the  former ;  the  one  receiving  the  benedicl 
of  Oxford  for  the  very  deed  which  earns  anathem 
the  other.     Since  there  are  to  be  at  all,  why  let 

them  be  the  chattels  of  any  body  but  an  American  ;  and 
in   that   case   even,    they    must  refrain   from 

producing   other  than   "the  raw  material,"  so  as  not  to 
interfere   with    British    manufacturers   or   British    1 
And  then,  to  accomplish  this,  the  astute   l>i\iii> 
to  the  cupidity  of  the  black  chief-  ;  :  forth  that  it 

■would  be  much  more  "advanl  for  them  to  reap 

for  themselves  the  harvest  of  slave-labor  than  to  allow 
others  to  do  so:    thus  showing  that  .-la Very  is  not  a  wrong 

per  se — is  nut  a  universal   wrong — is  a   v.  rely 

attaching  to  the  slaveholders  of  superior  caste. 

The  Bishop  "f  Oxford  maj  he  a  very  learned  and  a 
very  holy  man  ;  but  not  having  the  examples  of  Anthony 
i>f  Thebes  or  Simon  Stylil  es,  the  way  of 

his  godli)  through   the   highroads  of  wealth   and 

luxury.  It  is  in  the  splendid  palace,  Burrounded  by 
works  of  art  and  lighted  by  brilliant  chandeliers,  and 
not  in  a  wild  upon  a  lonely  pillar,  that  he  medi- 

and  prays.     To  impart  /.est  to  his  devotions,  his 
apostolic  feet   most   press   the  downy  carpet;   the  soft 
embroidered  onshion  must  embrace  his  bended  ki 
the   light  of  Heaven  should  fall  in  softened   rays  upon 
Lis  brow,  through  the  various  devices  of  richly  fabricated 


COTTON   CULTURE.  107 

window-curtains  ;  the  richest  garments,  ornamented  with 
the  most  seductive  looking  lace,  must  robe  the  limbs  of 
his  daughters,  and  prettily  printed  dresses  add  comeli- 
ness to  their  maids ;  'and  his  sermons  and  salutations,  it 
would  be  blasphemous  not  to  have  recorded  upon  the 
neatest  paper.  But  all  these  necessary  accessories  to 
religion  in  this  representative  of  Peter  and  Paul,  may, 
alas!  be  produced  from  the  "raw  material"  of  Ameri- 
can cotton.     And  hence  Asia  and  Africa  are  invoked. 

Admitting  for  fact  the  supposition — leaving  wholly  out 
of  view  the  dearth  of  moisture  in  the  east,  but  without 
the  requisite  portion  of  which  cotton  cannot  be  success- 
fully grown — would  the  culture  of  this  precious  plant  in 
these  countries,  benefit  the  anti-slavery  cause  ?  Or  would 
it  injure  the  American  planter,  by  depreciating  the  value 
of  his  slaves  and  plantations  ? 

It  is  a  -well-established  and  an  indisputable  fact, 
founded  upon  reason  and  experience,  that  prosperously 
to  cultivate  cotton,  the  planter  must,  at  all  times  and 
seasons,  have  absolute  command  of  labor  :  for  of  all  other 
products,  it  requires  the  most  tender  and  unabated  care, 
if  it  would  be  successfully  produced.  The  land,  from 
which  it  is  intended  it  shall  be  grown,  must  undergo  a 
perfect  system  of  preparation.  It  must  be  bedded  up 
early  in  the  winter,  so  as  to  allow  the  frost  to  pulverize 
the  soil.  It  must  be  ploughed  deeply  and  thoroughly, 
and  remain  unbroken  between  the  furrows.  A  fine  sys- 
tem of  drainage  should  prevail,  with  a  looseness  of  soil, 
to  enable  the  roots  of  the  plant  vigorously  to  penetrate 
the  earth.  All  stalks,  grass,  and  vegetable  matter, 
ought  to  be  rolled  into  the  ploughed  farrows,  to  rot  as 
a  nucleus  of  manure.  Even  when  all  this  is  accom- 
plished, heavy  rains  and  baking  winds,  too  frequently 


108  CM  SI    AND    I  o.NTRAST. 

cake  the  surface  of  the  soil ;  then  the  crust  must  be 
broken  by  ■  complete  process  of  harrowing. 

Bach  ]. reparations  having  been  consummated,  the 
cotton  seed  should  be  sown  between  the  15th  of  March 
and  the  15th  of  April,  but  to  insure  vigor  to  the  plant, 
the  seed  should  have  been  well  saved,  and  at  least  one 
year  old.  When  sown,  the  seed  ought  to  be  carefully 
covered,  especially  in  stiff  lanO^L  As  the  seeds  com- 
mence to  crack  the  earth,  in  germinating,  the  cotton 
ridges  must  be  artistically  scraped  with  notched  sticks. 
The  growth  of  grass  and  all  extraneous  matter,  with  the 
plant,  should  be  jealously  watched  and  prevented.  When 
the  third  leaf  of  the  stalk  appears,  the  soil  around  it 
ought  to  be  ploughed  with  a  Mississippi  scraper.  In 
about  a  week  afterward,  the  "chopping"  process  be- 
comes requisitt — arranging  the  cotton  into  uniform 
stands  of  three  or  four  stalks  each.  This  is  followed, 
in  time,  by  another  method  of  ploughing;  when 
sweep  is  at  the  bottom  and  a  mould-board  next  to  the 
plant — the  object  being  to  "dirt"  the  young  plant. 
The  bed  must,  however,  be  kept  carefully  "p  ly  the 
help  oi*  a  turn  plough.  Afterwards  it  will  become  ne- 
cessary t  tin-  stall.-;  to  two  in  a  stand,  and  in 
some   land-,    to   one   stalk.     All    subsequent    ploughing 

pt   in   extraordinary  seasons,  is  done  with   the   I 
and  mould-board;   always,  of  course,  keeping  the  furrows 
drained  :   for  in  wet  seasons  the  mOSl    assiduous  and   per- 
sistent care  of  the  young  plant  becomes  necessary. 

As  to  the  first  picking  season,  that  begins  when  the 
hand  can  pick  about  fifty  pounds  a  day.  This  must  be 
promptly  and  skilfully  attended  to,  in  order  to  prevent 
evaporation  of  the  oil  by  the  sun,  wind,  or  rain.  "When 
the  crop  is  good,  cotton  is  picked  free  from  leaves  and 


CONTROLLED    LABOR    NECESSARY.  109 

other  extraneous  matter ;  not  so,  however,  when  the 
crop  is  short;  this  care  is  deemed  then  unprofitable  for 
apparent  reasons.  Cotton  seed  is  usually  saved  from  the 
second  picking.  Then  comes  ginning,  which  must  be 
carefully  done  and  at  moderate  speed.  Next  ensues 
packing ;  which  should  be  avoided  in  dry  or  windy 
weather,  but  carefully  attended  to  in  moist  seasons  to 
secure  the  retention  of  its  oil.  The  bale  being:  formed, 
it  should  be  completely  enveloped  in  a  loose  bag,  allowing 
room  for  its  expansion ;  and  then  bound  with  ropes. 
When  all  this  is  accomplished — when  the  cotton  crop  of 
one  year  is  saved — it  is  full  spring-time  to  commence 
preparations  for  the  next. 

Now,  it  must  be  perfectly  apparent  to  the  most  obtuse 
understanding,  that  a  plant  requiring  so  much  care  and 
attention,  and  almost  a  whole  year  of  culture,  can  never 
be  profitably  produced  otherwise  than  by  slave  labor — by 
that  system,  which  gives  to  the  planter  absolute  control 
in  directing  the  laborer.  No  matter  how  indigenous 
cotton  may  be  to  the  soil,  or  however  genial  the  sun 
and  clime,  without  this  it  cannot  be  grown  in  sufficient 
quantities  to  meet  the  demand  of  civilization.  And  this 
fact  is  apparent  to  English  statesmen.*  They  have 
been  reluctantly  compelled  to  recognize  it.  A  com- 
mittee of  inquiry,  appointed  by  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, reports  that  it  can  be  successfully  cultivated  in 
certain    British    possessions — with    the    aid   of   steady 

•"Brititb  stntoomeii  know  that  all  the  labor  in  British  India  is 
forced  labor,  and  that  •    has  to  employ  Eastern  laborers  any- 

where, mus-t,  in  one  form  or  other,  force  them  to  work  l>_v  personal 
coercion.  The  Indian  ryoU  labor  for  the  English,  in  the  production 
of  indigo  and  opium,  under  the  cat-o'nine-tails,  the  pincers,  and  the 
kiUee." — Tons  Mitchell. 


110  CAT -SE    AND    CONTRAST. 

.race  of  Oxford  recommends  the  black 

chief?  of  Africa,   to  employ  their   "  d\  oplc 

in    producing  it.     If,    then,   England   is   ever   des- 

to   compete   with   America   in   the   cultivation  of  cotton, 

i08t  adopt  the  policy  of  forced  labor  in  the  exercise 

of  public  economy.      '.  rill  thus  be- 

ended;  inferior  races  will  be  controlled  in  the 

i  far  off  East,  ;.  nan     ii  <i vil- 

ization  must   advance   by  force  of  such   influence;    and 

the  heresies  of  anti-elareryism   be  buried   in   oblivion. 

Britain  will  be  constrained  to  return  again  to  the  point 

from  which  she  started,  and  erred  in  starting. 

Now,  if  we  will  suppose  that  this  m  of  labor  is 

fully  established  in  Egypt,  Africa,  India,  and  China — 
all  cotton-growing  countries ; — if  we  will  suppose  their 
labor-power  fully  disciplined  in  the  culture  of  the  plant, 
by  the  necessary  experience  of  at  least  twenty-five  or 
thirty  years  ;  and,  finally,  if  we  will  suppose  that  the 
results  of  the  vast  experiments  in  all  these  countries,  are 
great  successes — how  far  would  this  be  injurious  to  the 


•The  CmOmUb  can  never  cultivate  cott"ti  BOCCeesfally.  The  deli- 
cacy of  his  structure  and  organisation  render  him  incapable  of  endur- 
ing open  ful d  labor  beneath  a  burning  BUD.  He  soon  falls  the  victim 
of  malaria  in  climate-  where  the  OOttOD  plant  tluiiri.-hes,  if  subjected 
to  the  labor  for  which  the  inferior  races  of  man  Been  indigenous. 
For  in-tan. tec  "the  negroes  are  80  seldom  afflicted  with  the  yellow 
fever,"  ^ays  Dr.  Mosely,  "that  they  have  often  been  said  not  to  be 
susceptible  of  it;  and  there  have  been  instances  which,  under  a  very 
general  prevalence  of  the  complaint,  not  one  has  fallen  sick.  On 
other  occasions  some  have  been  seized  with  this  fever,  but  the  number 
has  been  small,  and  they  have  recovered  more  easily  than  the  whites." 
This  disease  is  inflammatory,  produced  by  external  causes  in  Lot  cli- 
mates, to  which  the  organism  of  the  negro  is  inured,  but  that  of  the 
Caucasian  foreign.     To  the  latter,  it  is  generally  fatal. 


COTTON  AND  THE  EAST.  Ill 

prospects  and  well-being  of  the  cotton  planters  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy  ? 

It  is  an  axiom  of  natural,  no  less  than  of  political, 
economy,  that  the  normal  consequence  of  production  is 
consumption.  China,  India,  Egypt,  Turkey,  Africa, 
Nubia — in  brief,  the  Avhole  East — embraces  a  population 
of  more  than  800,000,000  of  souls ;  requiring  cotton  in 
all  of  its  manifold  uses.  They  are,  en  masse,  sorely  in 
need  of  nourishment,  civilization,  and  some  lever  of  pro- 
gress. To  make  cotton  a  staple  product  of  their  soil, 
would  be  taking  an  infinite  stride  in  this  humane  direc- 
tion. In  its  culture  and  manufacture,  the  natives  would 
have  to  be  employed,  and  in  proportion  as  their  industry 
would  be  stimulated,  their  ingenuity  directed,  and  their 
zeal  rewarded,  their  necessities  would  increase,  until  they 
should  at  length  enter  the  great  Olympic  race  of  human 
competition,  as  consumers,  with  Americans  and  Euro- 
peans. Commerce,  Christianity,  and  civilization,  after 
long  ages  of  poverty  and  benighted  barbarism,  would 
dawn  again  upon  the  starving  East — the  cradle  of  hu- 
manity, where  the  sun  of  enlightenment  first  arose,  and 
gradually  irradiated  the  West  with  its  rays.  The  world's 
immense  market  would  be  augmented ;  human  inter- 
course enlarged ;  homogeneity  made  universal.  Hut, 
instead  of  supplying  Europe  with  the  raw  material  of 
cotton,  the  demand  for  it  in  the  East  would  become  so 
great,  that  America  would  be  called  upon  to  supply  the 
want.  The  Eastern  hemisphere  would  need  not  only  all 
the  cotton  that  it  could  produce,  but  much  more,  per- 
haps, than  we  could  supply  it  with.  Instead  of  being 
our  rival,  it  would  become  our  best  customer. 

India  and  Cliina  arc  so  densely  populated,  as  to 
contain  a  more  numerous  population,  upon  every  square 


11  J  CA1  "     ■    CONTRAST. 

mile  of  their  territories,  than  there  is  contained  upon 
any  other  equal  portions  of  the  earth.  Hence,  the  allot- 
ments of  their  lands  devoted  to  the  production  of  food, 
must  always  infinitely  exceed  that  reserved  for  the  cul- 
ture of  the  cotton  plant — rendering  it  vain  for  the  world 
to  expect  a  sufficiency  of  this  staple  from  these  coun- 
tries. As  we  have  previously  seen,  they  even  now  import 
annually  from  Europe,  more  pounds  of  manufaci 
cotton  than  they  are  enabled  to  export.  The  quality  of 
their  cotton  is  inferior,  and  can  never  be  made  to  ap- 
proach, in  points  of  excellence  or  utility,  to  that  grown 
in  America.  "While  it  grows  wild  and  natural  in  many 
parts  of  India,  China,  and  Africa — and  of  course  is  sus- 
ceptible of  improvement — while  the  soil  is  often  richer 
in  those  countries  than  it  is  with  us:  the  olimate  is 
adverse.  In  the  Eastern  latitudes,  low  enough  for  the 
production  of  cotton,  "while  at  particular  periods  of  the 
year  they  are  visited  by  very  heavy  rains,  at  other  and 
more  important  seasons,  they  arc  attended  by  continual 
and  unrelieved  drought — these  seasons  being  those  when 

plant    most    needs    the    nourishment   of    moisture. 

j  the  cotton  of  the  East  is  short,  fuzzy,  yellow- 
tinged,  and  woolly;  fitted  only  for  the  woof  of  cloth, 
and,  in  the  English  market,  worth  little  more  than  one- 
half  what  American  Upland  cotton  readily  commands.* 


*  Some  idea  may  be  formed  of  the  utility  of  Asiatic  and  other 
OOttODS,  from  the  following  statistics,  gathered  from  a  correspondent 
of  an  American  journal : 

"The  quantity  of  cotton  from  India,  Egypt,  &c.,  is  of  a  harsh, 
hairy  nature,  and  can  only  be  spun  into  a  thick,  hard,  twisted  yarn, 
for  heavy  g<""ls,  and  II  not  adapted  to  a  fifth  part  of  the  trade  of  Eng- 
land, any  more  than  30  much  straw.  The  British  cotton  interest,  with 
Government  aid,  is  engaged  in  an  earnest  effort  to  obtain  supplies  of 


EASTERN   AND   WESTERN   COTTONS.  113 

The  fall  of  rains  in  Alabama,  Louisiana,  Georgia,  Ar- 
kansas, and  Mississippi — during  the  four  seasons  of  the 
year — as  shown  in  meteoric  tables,  are :  In  the  Spring 
15  inches ;  in  the  Summer  20 ;  in  the  Autumn  12 ;  and 
in  the  Winter  18 — a  phenomenon  which,  in  all  the  other 
countries  of  the  globe  producing  cotton,  cannot  be  dis- 
covered :  so  that,  when  the  Eastern  planter  would  be 
compelled  artificially  to  irrigate  his  land,  the  American 
may  feel  himself  necessitated  to  drain  his  crop.  Con- 
sequently, the  cotton  of  the  latter  has  never  been 
excelled ;  neither  can  it  be.  It  is  suited  to  every 
variety  of  manufacture ;  but  the  mission  of  Indian  and 
Chinese  cotton  is  limited — twenty-five  per  centum  of 
which  being  as  much  as  can  be  used  in  the  manufacture 
of  fine  cloths. 

Yet,  did  none  of  these  disadvantages  exist — if  the 
East  were  as  naturally  irrigated  as  our  own  South — 
if  the  quality  of  cotton  produced  by  the  former  were 
equal  to  that  of  the  latter — there  would  still  remain 
obstacles  in  the  path  of  the  East,  which  would  render 
the   South  mistress  of  rivalry.     The  length  of  voyages 


cotton  from  India.  Syria,  Egypt,  Africa,  and  the  West  Indie.?.  In 
order  to  show  the  amount  of  the  deficiency  that  is  to  be  supplied  from 
new  sources,  I  give  the  following  accurate  returns  of  consumption  and 
supply  from  1842  t.>  made  by  the  Manchester  Chamber  of 

Commerce.     The  total  consumption   for  1848  «  les  of 

400  pounds  each,  of  which  the  United  State-  supplied    1,436,816,  and 
all   other   countries    240,135.     The    total    consumption   of    1  y "V2    was 
2,324,461  bales,  of  which  the  United  Stati 
and  all  other  oonntri<  The  total  consumption  ii- 

8,  177. 168  b  tl<  -.  of  whirl,  the  Unite  I 

all  other  countries  687,782.     The  increased  consumption  of  cotton  in 
Britain  from  1840  to  1800  was  1,794,476  bales,  or  over  100  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  consumption  on  the  former  year." 

8 


11  1  CAUSE   AND   CONTRAST. 

I  1  "  ..  China,  or  Egypt — the  expense  of  freightage 
and  insurance — the  distance  that  cotton  would  hai 
be  carried  from  the  plantation  to  the  sea-port,  and  the 
dearth  of  Bteamboats  ai  d  railroads  on  the  routes — would 
soon  become  too  expensive  for  the  /"r^r^-philanthropy  of 
abolitionism.  The  freight  ipon  every  pound  of  cotton, 
now  transported  from  America  to  England,  rarely  ex- 
ceeds one  cent;  whereas  the  freight  upon  a  similar 
weight,  brought  either  from  Shanghai  or  Calcutta, 
would  certainly  not  fall  short  of  twice  that  amount. 
Voyages  from  the  latter  ports  will  certainly  average 
four  months,  while  from  the  Confederate  States  they 
will  not  exceed  three  or  four  weeks.  Thus,  the  whole 
expense  of  a  pound  of  cotton,  imported  to  England 
from  us,  will  be  about  three  cents;  .vhile,  if  carried 
from  China  or  India,  it  will  more  than  double  this. 
Consequently,  and  at  this  rate  of  expenditure,  the 
cotton  which  ordinarily  brings  12  cuts  in  the  English 
market,  when  it  would  yield  to  tie  Eastern  planter  but 
four  cents,  must  yield  nine  to  th<    American. 

It  is  not,  then,  the  philosopl  ,  of  the  latter  to  fear  the 
former.  The  true  American,  .is  a  statesman,  humanita- 
rian, and  Christian,  would  applaud  the  success  of  his 
would-be  rival.  Even  if  it  were  possible  or  feasible — 
and  not  outside  the  pale  of  reason  and  experience — he 
would  regard  it  equally  absurd  to  suppose  that  the 
sewing  machine  had  ruined  the  happiness  of  the  seam- 
stress— that  the  reaping  machine  had  destroyed  the 
independence  of  the  harvest-laborer — or  that  the  cotton- 
gin  and  cotton-jenny  had  blighted  his  own  fortunes — 
as  to  contemplate  with  jealousy  the  enterprise  of  his 
Asiatic  competitor.  lie  feels  that  every  new  invention 
made  in  the  mechanic  arts ;  and  every  fresh  staple  of 


UNIQUE    CHRISTIANITY.  115 

universal  use,  extracted  from  the  womb  of  the  soil,  in- 
creases the  wealth  of  mankind,  and  instead  of  diminish- 
ing, adds  to  the  happiness  of  our  species,  by  enlarging 
the  matter  of  consumption.  The  most  penetrating 
regret,  however,  that  he  experiences,  arises  from  a  pain- 
ful consciousness  that  abolitionism  is  not  actuated  by  a 
spirit  of  Christian  philosophy,  religion,  or  philanthropy. 
He  knows  that  it  is  hatred  and  envy  of  him,  which  impel 
the  peoples  of  Europe  and  the  North,  to  make  voyages 
of  exploration  in  search  of  new  and  rival  cotton  regions. 
If  by  exploring  the  whole  earth,  they  could  discover  for 
themselves  elsewhere,  the  necessary  supply  of  this  pre- 
cious and  indispensable  product,  their  ambition  would 
be  crowned;  but  more  especially  so,  if  the  Southern 
planter  should  become  thereby  a  hopeless  bankrupt. 
It  is  not  love,  but  hate,  that  inspires  their  zeal.  And 
surely — in  lands  of  Bibles,  Bible-readers,  missionaries, 
and  tractarians — this  is  reversing  the  Divine  precept  of 
Christ — returning  evil  for  good — since  the  assailed  vic- 
tim has  been  their  meek  and  great  benefactor. 


IK-  AND    CONTRAST. 


W 


related  that  Niobe,  daughter  of  Tantalus,  and  wife 
Amphion,  King  of  Thebes,  waa  blessed  by  Fortune 
with  all  the  gifts  of  Nature  and  every  attribute  of  hap- 
pi  -s;  from  the  enjoyment  of  which  Bhe  was,  how 
debarred,  by  her  presuming  pride  and  arrogance.  Puffed 
up  with  vain-glory  and  self-conceit,  Bhe  jealously  envied, 
and  professed  to  despise,  Latona,  the  beautiful  favorite 
of  Jupiter — disturbed  her  religious  sacrifices,  and  boast- 
fully vaunting  that  her  own  virtue,  wealth,  beauty  and 
bounty  were  unrivalled — proclaimed  that  the  pel 
charms  of  her  children  surpassed  those  of  gods  and 
goddesses.  At  length  her  conduct  enraged  Apollo  and 
Diana — children  of  Latona — and  they  resolved  to  re- 
•  •  the  injuries  of  their  mother,  by  the  humiliation 
and  punishment  of  Niobe.  So,  before  her  eyes,  they 
shot  with  celestial  arrows,  first  her  sons,  then  her  fair 
daughters,  and  Lastly  her  husband ;  upon  beholding 
which,  Niobe  Bwooned  with  grief  and  despair,  and  ere 
recovery  could  come  to  her,  she  was  metamorphosed  into 

marble,  from  which  bitter  tears  forever  flow. 

The  myth  of  Niobe  and  Latona  is  partially,  but  pain- 
fully, Bymbolical  of  the  relations  which  have  here!' 
existed  between  the  South  and  the  North — long  patience 
and  endurance,  characterizing  the  history  of  the  former; 
haughty  vindietiveness  and  outrages,  that  of  the  latter. 
The  North  was  great — artificially  ;  splendidly  grand — 
but  in  borrowed  plumage.  Into  her  lap  the  whole  world 
poured  surprising  contributions  of  wealth,  exalting  her 
luxury  and  perfecting  her  happiness.     All  vessels,  bound 


THE   SOUTHERN    PACTOLUS.  117 

to  or  from  her  harbors,  and  "whose  ■whitening  canvas 
sported  with  the  Nereides  of  the  deep,  were  obsequious 
missionaries  of  her  rapidly  increasing  beauty  and  splen- 
dor. Her  people  increased  and  multiplied  like  the  pro- 
mised seed  of  Abraham — like  the  stars  in  the  firmament, 
or  the  sands  upon  the  beach.  Her  cities  arose  out  of 
the  'wilderness,  so  rapidly  and  so  magnificently,  as  to 
recall  the  magic  miracles  of  Aladdin's  lamp.  Banks, 
insurance  offices,  and  monopolies  flourished  beneath  her 
regis.  Stage-coaches,  steamboats,  and  railroads,  cum- 
bered her  wide  domains.  Her  finest  commercial  em- 
porium rivalled  in  magnificence  and  prosperity,  as  well 
as  in  crime  and  licentiousness,  the  most  famous  capitals 
of  antiquity.  A  mighty  current  of  treasure,  surpassing 
that  of  golden  Pactolus,  added  daily  to  the  increasing 
glory  of  her  diadem.  From  the  tobacco  plantations  of 
Virginia  and  Tennessee — from  the  flowery  and  fruitful 
regions  of  Opelousas — from  the  sugar  lands  of  Atta- 
kapas — from  the  silver  shores  of  the  Mississippi,  per- 
fumed by  groves  of  orange  and  citron — from  Alabama 
and  the  Carolinas,  where  the  cotton-tree  waves  its 
kingly  crest  in  Autumn's  zephyrs — from  the  rich  rice 
fields  of  the  blessed  Sea-Island  coasts — from  a  whole 
Southern  Empire  of  perpetual  summer,  where  the  prince- 
ly prairies  and  grand  savannahs  are  carpeted  by  the 
love-lavish  hand  of  Flora,  and  over  which  bend  the 
bluest  of  heavens — flowed  the  river  of  life,  which  im- 
parted progress,  and  pomp,  and  brilliancy  to  the  North. 
Two  nUNDRED  AND  TfllRTY-ONE  MILLIONS  OF  DOLLARS 
was  the  annual  dowry  which  the  South  generously  cast 
at  her  feet.  More  faithful  to  what  she  esteemed  a 
patriotic  duty,  than  that  bird  which  is  Bald  to  feed  her 
young  with  her  life-blood,  this  South  drained  her  breasts 


118  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

of  untold  tiva.-urcs,  to  glut  the  thankless  rapacity  of  her 
enemy.  She  consented  yearly  to  the  payment  of  Tinu- 
million  OF  DOLLARS,  as  a  bounty  toward  the  en- 
couragement of  Northern  fisheries;  eight  millions  of 
which  went  into  the  abolition  coffers  of  Massachusetts. 
She  constituted  the  North  her  common  carrier,  and  paid 
thirty-six  MILLION  OP  DOLLARS  in  requital  of  the  ser- 
vice. She  paid  eight  millions,  and  more,  annually, 
for  the  shoes  of  her  slaves ;  and  over  sixty  millions 
for  dry  goods,  furniture,  fish,  and  other  commodities. 
The  wealth  of  the  South  being  solid  rather  than  artifi- 
cial, in  1857-8 — during  the  terrible  American  crisis — she 
had  §35,000,000,  in  specie,  more  in  her  banks  than  there 
was  at  the  North,  with  which  she  promptly  came  forward 
to  save  the  latter  from  pending  ruin.  But  in  proportion 
as  she  scattered  favors,  new  exactions  were  demanded 
of  her.  Her  sons  had  laid  their  heads  to  rest  in  love, 
down  in  the  lap  of  a  Delilah,  and  they  arose  from  their 
slumber  almost  shorn  of  their  strength.  Her  people  con- 
sented to  have  themselves  taxed  at  the  rate  of  twenty- 
four  per  cent,  for  the  carpet  upon  which  they  stepped — 
for  the  apparel  which  they  wore — for  the  china-ware  of 
their  households — for  the  mirrors  and  window  hangings 
of  their  parlors — for  the  cutlery  of  their  pockets  and 
their  tables — for  the  chairs  upon  which  they  eat — and 
for  the  boots  and  shoes  which  they  wore — all  for  the 
self-sacrificing  purpose  of  encouraging  Northern  manu- 
facturers, and  offering  a  premium  to  Northern  ingenuity. 
They  taxed  themselves,  or  consented  to  be  taxed,  for  the 
books  they  bought,  and  for  the  paper  upon  which  they 
wrote.  They  were  taxed  at  the  rate  of  thirty  per 
centum  for  the  cigars  they  smoked — for  the  wines  which 
they   drank  —  and   for    the   pianos    of  their  wives   and 


NORTHERN    INGRATITUDE.  119 

daughters — In  order  to  stimulate  Northern  inventions, 
quackery,  and  cunning.  The  South  bestowed  upon  the 
North  a  whole  empire  of  territories  —  freely  bestowed 
them,  cheerfully,  gracefully,  and  without  murmur — not- 
withstanding that  they  were  to  become  Free  States,  and, 
necessarily,  antagonistic  forces.  In  addition,  she  helped 
to  widen  the  rivers,  to  improve  the  harbors,  to  build  the 
light-houses  and  custom-houses  of  the  North ;  indeed, 
the  full  measure  of  her  generous  devotion  toward  the 
aggrandizement  of  a  false  and  ingrate  sister,  is  incalcu- 
lable, and  will  ever  remain  among  the  unwritten  stories 
of  the  marvellous. 

But  how  did  the  North  repay  all  this  munificence — all 
these  splendid  and  princely  favors — all  such  bountiful 
and  prodigal  benefits?  Much  as  the  infidel  wife,  of  the 
Arabian  tale,  returned  the  loving  confidence  of  the  young 
king  of  the  Black  Isles.  She  was  his  kinswoman.  He 
had  profusely  scattered  upon  her  the  treasures  of  his 
possession.  Every  wish  of  her  heart  was  studiously  and 
spontaneously  gratified.  Their  connubial  bliss  seemed 
unclouded,  and  Love's  warm  blandishments  added  new 
charms  to  their  happiness,  for  a  brief  term  of  years. 
But  at  length — and  when  too  late — the  unhappy  prince 
discovered  that  the  wife  of  his  soul  delighted  in  him  no 
more — discovered  that  she  was  a  traitor  to  his  bed  and 
enamored  with  a  BLACK.  Even  when  her  crime  was  dis- 
covered, and  her  monster  paramour's  life  saved  by  magic 
only — instead  of  reforming  and  repenting,  she  had  her- 
self arrayed  in  garments  of  sorrow — erected  u  mauso- 
leum, called  by  her  the  "Palace  of  Tears,"  where  she 
daily  bewailed  the  stupefaction  of  her  lablfl  idol — but 
still  nestled  in  the  indulgent  bosom  of  her  royal  hus- 
band, remained  the  confidant  of  his  state  secrets,  ami 


1*20  AND    CONTRAST. 

partook  of  his  kingly  beneficence;  until  at  length  lie 
had  the  temerity  angrily  to  expostulate  with  her,  when 
the  indignant  sorceress  subjected  himself  and  his  ]>• 

cruel  persecution,  from  which  they  were  barely 
rescued  by  the  intervention  of  a  chivalrous  and  pious 
sultan. 

The  Union  of  North  and  South  had  not  long  existed, 
ere  the  former  assumed  the  arrogant  airs  of  Niobc,  and 
proved  recreant  to  her  duty,  as  the  lewd  wife  of  the 
young  king  of  the  Black  Isles.  Those  who  assert  that 
the  mere  accession  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  his  friends, 
to  office  and  patronage,  was  the  sole  cause  for  the  seces- 
sion of  the  South,  cither  wilfully  pervert  the  truths  o? 
history,  or  completely  fail  to  comprehend  the  subject. 
The  success  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  as  an  individual,  on  the 
contrary,  might  have  been  regarded  with  indifference; 
but  standing,  as  he  did,  upon  an  aggressive  and  sec- 
tional platform — representing  incendiary  and  revolution- 
ary dogmas  of  government — and  the  standard-bearer  of 
an  organization,  which  made  war  upon  property,  trampled 
upon  constitutional  guarantees,  and  declared  eternal  en- 
mity against  the  social  and  political  institutions  of  a  free 
and  independent  people — his  elevation  to  the  Presidency 
of  the  United  States,  in  defiance  of  the  supplications 
and  protests  of  almost  every  mother's  child  in  lift  ecu 
sovereign  States,  was  the  consummation  —  the  capital 
crime — and  the  final  victory — of  an  historical  and  per- 
sistent conspiracy.  It  was,  it  is  true,  the  immediate 
blow  which  severed  the  cords  of  Union  ;  but  it  was  only 
the  ripened  fruit  of  a  seed  long  and  widely  sown.  As 
early  as  1787,  the  North  had  a  revival  of  conscience. 
She  made,  or  thought  she  had  made,  the  discovery  that 
it  was  sinful  to  enslave  negroes.     But,  instead  of  repent- 


REVIVAL   OP    CONSCIENCE.  121 

ing  like  a  pagan — if  not  like  a  Christian — instead  of 
doing  penance  such  as  Orestes  did  —  for  having  sold 
African  slaves  to  the  South,  she  resolved  upon  being 
respectable  at  the  expense  of  the  latter.  She  caused 
the  Ohio  river  to  be  designated  as  the  line  which  should 
divide  her  Christianity  from  the  heathenism  of  the 
South.  By  virtue  of  the  famous  "  Missouri  Compro- 
mise"—  that  fatally  disgraceful,  unconstitutional,  and 
un-American  measure — this  line  of  demarcation  was  so 
amended,  as  to  admit  of  no  slavery,  present  or  prospec- 
tive, north  of  latitude  3G  degrees  and  30  minutes.  Step 
by  step,  frequently  with  the  "tract  oblique"  and  "in- 
dented wave"  of  the  serpent,  but  latterly  with  the 
brazen  front  of  a  Corsair,  she  encroached  upon  the 
rights,  privileges,  and  immunities  of  the  South,  until 
at  length  the  dignity  and  independence  of  the  latter 
were  on  the  eve  of  strangulation.  The  statesmen,  po- 
litical orators,  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  and  representa- 
tive men  in  general,  of  the  North,  exhausted  the  vo- 
cabulary of  misrepresentation,  vilification,  and  insult, 
assailing  and  aspersing  the  South,  until,  in  the  frenzy 
of  vindictive  abuse,  their  mouths  became  mucilaginous. 
Daniel  Webster — the  most  profound  of  Northern  law- 
yers, but  singularly  over-estimated  as  a  statesman — wrote 
in  1850:  "From  my  earliest  3-outh  I  have  regarded 
slavery  as  a  great  moral  and  political  evil;  and  all  pre- 
tence of  defending  it  on  the  ground  of  difference  of 
races,  I  have  ever  condemned ;" — [because  he  was  cither 
wilfully  or  invincibly  ignorant  of  the  truth  of  both 
theses.]  William  II.  Seward,  in  1858,  declared  that  the 
institution  of  slavery  promoted  "an  irrepressible  conflict 
between  opposing  and  enduring  forces,  which  meant  that 
the  United  States  should,  sooner  or  later,  become  cither 


128  OAUSl    AND    OOHTBAST. 

a  slave-holding  nation,  or  entirely  a  free-labor  nation." 
Salmon  I'.  Chase  proposed  to  "discontinue  all  action, 
and  repeal  all  legislation,  in  favor  of  slavery  at  home  or 
abroad,  by  prohibiting  the  practice  of  Blaveholding  in  all 
18."  John  C.  Fremont — now  the  American  Ilaynau 
of  Missouri,  but  in  1856  "Republican"  candidate  for 
the  Presidency — proclaimed,  in  accepting  of  the  nomina- 
tion, that  he  was  "  opposed  to  slavery  in  the  abstract, 
and  upon  principles  sustained  and  made  habitual  by  long- 
settled  convictions."  Senator  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts, 
asserted  that  Blavery  was  "hostile  to  the  rights  of  hu- 
man nature,"  and  that  there  could  be  no  peace  between 
North  and  South  "so  long  as  the  foot  of  an  African 
slave  pressed  American  soil."  "We  ask,"  said  General 
Banks  in  1856,  "that  the  dead  weight  of  human  wrong 
shall  be  lifted  from  the  continent  again."  In  the  same 
year,  Senator  Wade,  of  Ohio,  exclaimed:  "there  is  not 
a  more  morbidly  suspicious,  cruel,  revengeful,  or  lawless 
despotism,  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  than  this  night-mare 
Of  slavery."  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  member  of  Congress 
from  Ohio,  prognosticated  that  "the  torch  of  the 
incendiary  would  light  up  the  towns  and  villages  of  the 
South,*'  while  the  North  would  "mook  at  her  fears  and 
laugh  at  her  calamities."  Anson  Burlingame,  of  "Massa- 
chusetts, declared  in  the  U.  S.  House  of  Representatives, 
"that  slavery  had  left  desolation,  ignorance,  and  death, 
in  its  path,"  and  that  the  North  would  insist  upon  having 
"an  anti-slavery  Church,  an  anti-slavery  Bible,  and  an 
anti-slavery  God  !"  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  poet,  fana- 
tic, and  metaphysician,  resolved  upon  not  being  outdone 
as  a  marvellous  slanderer ;  related  to  the  world  how  the 
whip  was  applied  to  old  men  and  to  tender  women — how 
pregnant  women  were  set  in  the  treadmill  for  refusing  to 


THE   TOCSIN   OF   WAR.  123 

work — how  "men's  backs  were  flayed  with  cowhides, 
and  hot  rum  poured  on,  superinduced  with  brine  and 
pickle,  rubbed  in  with  a  corn-husk  in  the  scorching  heat 
of  the  sun," — until  "the  stomach  "would  rise  up  and 
curse  slavery."  *  Rev.  Theodore  Parker  assured  his 
hearers,  in  Music  Hall,  Boston,  that  "  one  day  the  North 
would  rise  in  her  majesty  and  put  slavery  under  her  feet." 
Geo.  B.  Cheever — another  pulpitarian — preached  that  by 
slavery  "the  whole  family  relations,  the  whole  domestic 
relations,  were  prostituted,  poisoned,  and  turned  into  a 
misery-making  machine,  for  the  agent  of  all  evil."  Dr. 
Bellows  said  :  "  Our  conscientious  opposition  to  slavery 
is  not  to  be  abated  or  colored  by  fears  of  the  Union ; 
and  so  far  as  it  depends  on  the  North,  we  are  to  stop  its 
extension,  let  the  consequences  to  the  Union  be  what 
they  will."  Lewis  Tappan  was  firmly  of  opinion,  that 
"  free  Christianity  recoiled  from  the  leprous  touch  of 
slavery."  Carl  Shurz  promulgated  that  "  the  despotic 
power  of  slavery  and  mastership  combined,  pervades  the 
whole  political  life  of  the  South,  like  a  liquid  poison." 
Wendell  Phillips  announced,  in  the  hearing  of  congre- 
gated and  applauding  thousands,  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
that  the  pen  of  the  future  historian  would  trace  on  the 
blue  vault  of  Heaven,  in  letters  of  imperishable  immor- 
tality, high  above  the  names  of  Phocion,  Fabricius,  or 
"Washington,  that  of  the  brutal  Toussaint  L'Ouverture. 
And  the  notorious  Helper — whose  indecently  scurrilous 
book  received  the  warm,  and  nearly  unanimous,  endorse- 
ment of  the  great  lights  of  "Republicanism" — published 


*"  Father !  forgive  the  foul  calumniator;  lie  knows  not  what  he 
Bays." 


124  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

that  it  was  a  "  solemn  duty  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  South 
or  perish  in  the  attempt ;"  that  to  be  a  "true  patriot  one 
must  be  an  abolitionist ;"  that  against  slaveholders  as  a 
body  "  a  war  of  extermination  should  be  waged,  as  the 
time  to  try  the  strength  of  arms  and  strike  the  blow  had 
arrived  ;  that  "  slaveholders  were  nuisances  and  more 
cruel  than  murderers,"  without  honor  or  magnanimity  : 
that  they  should  be  recognized  only  as  ruffians,  outlaws, 
and  criminals  ;  and  that  the  agitation  at  the  North  was 
a   "crusade  against  slavery  and  the  devil." 

Thus  educated,  the  North  soon  learned  to  spurn  the 
Federal  Constitution  and  the  Congressional  compromises 
growing  out  of  it.  Her  people  not  only  refused  to 
obey,  but  literally  trampled  upon  the  act  of  Congress, 
of  1850 — better  known  as  the  "Fugitive  Slaw  Law  :  " 
the  Constitution,  also,  expressly  providing  that  "fugitives 
from  labor"  should  be  restored  to  their  masters,  and 
the  Northerners  declaring  that  they  should  not.  In- 
deed, in  attempting  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  these 
sacred  enactments,  officers  of  the  law  were  shut  down 
upon  the  public  streets,  while  endeavoring  to  discharge 
their  sworn  duties;  and  the  fugitives  were  rescued 
from  their  grasp.  When  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court — composed  of  men  endowed  with  spotless  virtue, 
unsullied  integrity,  great  learning,  and  purity  of  cha- 
racter, holding  office  for  life,  and  removed  beyond 
political  influence,  or  any  other  future  worldly  ambi- 
tion— rendered  the  celebrated  "Drcd  Scott"  decision, 
establishing  that  a  negro  could  not  become  a  citizen  of 
the  Union,  and  that  the  "Missouri  Compromise"  was 
unconstitutional ;  its  exposition  of  the  law  was  shame- 
fully   derided,    and     the    Chief    Justice     outrageously 


ABOLITION    RAIDS.  125 

maligned  and  denounced  for  the  delivery  of  such  opinion.* 
The  North  sent  her  emissaries  to  invade,  vi  et  armis,  the 
South,  and  the  innocent  blood  of  Virginia's  children 
reddened  her  soil — her  sons  were  murdered  by  John 
Brown  and  his  companions.  The  property  of  South- 
erners was  daily  stolen  or  enticed  away,  and  the  North 
rejoiced  in  the  theft  and  boasted  of  her  cunning  and 
duplicity.  She  sent  her  missionaries  to  the  South,  with 
a  view  of  inciting  the  slaves  to  effect  their  escape,  by 
murder,  rapine,   and  insurrection ;    and  some  of  those 


*  Both  in  regard  to  the  rendition  clause  and  the  status  of  the  terri- 
tories, the  Northern  States  have  assumed  to  nullify  the  Constitution. 
It  was  with  the  deliberate  purpose  of  declaring  its  contempt  for  the 
Constitution  and  for  the  decrees  of  the  Judges,  that  the  Legislature 
of  the  State  of  New  York  passed  the  following  concurrent  resolution, 
for  which  see  Laws  of  1857  : 

STATE  OP  NEW  YORK,     \ 
In  Assembly,  April  L6th,  1867.    J 

Resolved,  (If  the  Senate  concur,)  That  this  State  will  not  allow  slavery  within 
her  borders  in  any  form,  <>t  under  any  pretence,  or  for  any  time  however  short. 
Resolved,  (If  the  £  ur,)  That  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  I 

3on  of  a  majority  of  the  judges  thereof  having  identified  with  it  a  sectional 
impaired  thei  Bof  this 

Resolved,  (If  the  Senate  concur,)  That  the  Governor  of  this  state  be,  and  he  is 
hereby  respectfully  requested,  to  transmit  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  to  tho 

vernors  of  ti  (his  Onion. 

By  order, 

WM.  RICHARDSON,  Clerk. 
IN  SENATE,  April  18th, 
P 

S.  P.  ALLEN,  Clerk. 

It  was  in  urging  tie  of  these  Ordinances  of  Nullification, 

that  Speaker  Littlejohn  proclaimed  that  he  "trampled  npon  the  Con- 
stitution."    It  was  in  reference  to  this  decision  that  Mr.  Bewai 
his  colleagues  propose  to  reorganize  the  Court  by  swamping  it  with  a 
new  creation  of  Abolition   Judges.     And  it  was  of  this   decision   that 
Mr.  Lincoln  spoke,  when  he  said  lie  would  not  obey  it. 


12C  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

■phically  Ohrifltian  apostles,  were  detected  in  the 
charitable  act  of   poisoning  the  wells   of   Texas.     Her 
Representatives    in    the    Federal    Congress,    employed 
entire    sessions,    to    the    almost    total    neglect    of    the 
general   welfare,   in    the  contagious  work  of  agitation; 
squandering  large  sums  from  the  public  treasury  in  pub- 
lishing   incendiary    documents,    and    overburdening    tho 
mails   with   reports,   furnished   by   themselves,   of    their 
inflammatory  speeches.     Not  a  measure,  however  neces- 
sary, even  if  it  were  but  the  building  of  a  new  custom 
house,    and    intended    to    benefit    the    South,    could    be 
passed  through  Congress,  without  the  latter  having  first 
agreed  to  vote  millions  in  lands  and  moneys,  to  secure 
the    acquiescence  of  Western   and   Northern    members. 
Statesmanship  in  legislation,  or  patriotism  in  parliamen- 
tary oratory,  entered  not  into  their  political  ethics.      He 
was,  at  the  North,  esteemed  the  greatest  orator,  who  had 
best  assailed  the  South,  with  falsehood,  insult,  and  outrage. 
He  was  gloried  in   as  the  purest  patriot,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded in  legislating  away  the  public  lands — in  granting 
bounties  from   the  public  treasury  to  swindling  corpora- 
tions— and  in  growing  independently  rich  himself,  upon 
a  salary  of  $3,000  a  year.     Destitute  of   that  Christian 
spirit   of   forbearance    and    moderation,    which   chastens 
mankind,  and  ignoring  the  code  of  honor,  which  renders 
refined   and   respectful    the    intercourse    of    gentlemen, 
such  legislators  used  language,  so  coarse  and  vile,  upon 
the  floors  of  both  houses  of  Congress,  as  to  recall  to  the 
mind  of  the  auditor,  the  disgraceful  scenes  in  the  infa- 
mous circus  of  Byzantium.     They  respected  neither  age, 
talents,  nor  wisdom.     The  late  venerable  Senator  Butler, 
of  South  Carolina,  whose  hairs  had  grown  snow-white  in 
the  service  of  his  country — who  had  lived  history,  and 


CHICAGO   CONVENTION.  127 

helped  to  make  it — was  assailed  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  by  Charles  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts,  in 
such  vulgar  phrase  as  would  bring  irrepressible  blushes 
to  the  cheek  of  a  Billingsgate  fish-monger. 

And  such  were  the  men — such  their  antecedents, 
opinions,  personal  and  political  characteristics — who 
assembled  in  Convention  at  Chicago,  in  1860,  to  adopt 
a  Confession  of  Faith,  and  to  put  in  nomination  a  can- 
didate for  the  Presidency — one  who  was  to  guide  the 
destinies  of  over  thirty  free,  independent,  sovereign, 
and  Republican  States.  They  adopted  a  political  creed, 
which  was  to  the  Southern  States  what  the  Koran  of 
Mohammed  was  to  the  unbelieving  world — the  tocsin  of 
relentless  war.  This  creed  "  solemnly  reasserted  the 
self-evident  truths,"  that  the  negro  was  entitled  to  all 
the  possible  or  imaginary  inalienable  rights  of  the  white 
man ;  that  every  inch  of  the  territories  of  all  the  States, 
should  be  given  up  to  the  Northern  idea  of  free  institu- 
tions ;  that  the  Southern  institution  of  servitude  should 
become  a  sort  of  prisoner  of  State,  bound  by  parole  of 
honor,  not  to  obtrude  itself  outside  of  certain  prescribed 
limits ;  and  denying  to  Congress,  Territorial  Legisla- 
tures, or  any  other  earthly  powers,  the  right  to  introduce 
slavery  beyond  such  limitations.  The  next  step  of  this 
revolutionary  conclave  was  to  select  a  candidate  pledged 
to  their  views,  and  Abraham  Lincoln  was  chosen  as  their 
representative. 

He  was  an  obscure  lawyer  of  the  State  of  Illinois ; 
without  a  respectable  education,  or  that  civil  and  social 
culture,  which  frequently  imparts  refinement  to  the  con- 
duct of  a  gentleman,  and  helps  to  conceal  important 
defects.  Previously  to  his  contest  for  the  Senate,  with 
the  late  Judge  Douglas — a  contest  which  resulted  in  his 


128  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

defeat — he  was  comparatively  unknown.  His  knovl 
of  Government  and  affairs  of  State,  were  confined  to  his 
practice  as  attorney  in  County  and  State  Courts ;  and 
his  political  experience,  to  the  "Western  stump  and  the 
village  bar-room.  But  his  opinions  were  known — opinions 
of  which  he  seems  to  have  been  as  vain  as  Goldsmith's 
pedagogue  was  of  his  own  acquirements — and  they  tallied 
with  those  of  the  Chicago  Junta.  As  we  have  illus- 
trated and  established,  the  negro  is  an  inferior  being. 
Before  he  becomes  our  equal  he  must  be  recreated — the 
God  of  Nature  and  of  peoples  must  recast  him  in  an- 
other and  finer  mould — his  whole  frame  will  have  to 
undergo  regeneration  from  degradation  of  type — his 
intellect  must  be  burnished  with  superior  inspiration — 
and  his  superficial  form  assume  an  {esthetic  aspect.  But 
of  what  avail  could  these  truths  be  to  the  understanding 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  who,  in  the  sphere  of  reason,  never  rose 
to  the  dignity  of  Blaise  Pascal's  "thinking  reed'.'" 
Blind  to  the  immutable  facts  of  science  and  philosophy, 
he  would  have  the  negro  the  equal  of  "Washington  and 
Cincinnatus — of  Socrates  and  Cato!  In  1856,  he  de- 
clared that  mankind  were  marching  in  "steady  progress 
toward  equality  for  all  men."  Two  years  later,  he 
advised  his  friends  to  "  discard  all  things  and  unite  as 
one  people  throughout  the  land,  until  they  should  once 
more  stand  up  declaring  that  all  men  were  created 
equal."  In  the  same  year,  he  said:  "I  do  assert  now, 
however,  so  there  need  be  no  difficulty  about  it,  that  I 
desire  slavery  should  be  put  in  a  course  of  ultimate  ex- 
tinction. *  *  I  have  always  hated  slavery,  I  think, 
as  much  as  any  abolitionist.  *  *  'A  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand.'  I  believe  that  this  Govern- 
ment cannot  endure  permamently  half  slave   and  half 


SOUTHERN   ATTITUDE.  129 

free.  *  *  I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall,  but  I  do 
expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided :  it  will  become  one 
thing,  or  all  the  other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery 
will  arrest  the  further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where 
the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the 
course  of  ultimate  extinction,  or  its  advocates  will  push 
it  forward  till  it  shall  become  alike  lawful  in  all  the 
States,  old  as  well  as  new,  North  as  well  as  South." 
And  again :  "  If  I  were  in  Congress,  and  a  vote  should 
come  up  on  a  question  whether  slavery  should  be  pro- 
hibited in  a  new  Territory,  in  spite  of  the  Dred  Scott 
decision,  [no  matter  as  to  his  oath,]  I  would  vote  that  it 
should."  Firm,  then,  in  this  the  faith  of  his  party,  and 
boldly  expressing  such  opinions,  he  received  the  "Re- 
publican "  nomination — accepted  it — pledged  himself  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  agrarian  principles  of  the 
Chicago  platform — and  was  elected  President. 

There  were  those  at  the  South,  who,  wearied  of  the 
long  and  persistent  strife — wearied  of  the  repeated  in- 
roads made  upon  their  rights — wearied  of  expostulating 
with  men  who  insulted  alike  their  patient  sufferings  and 
their  warnings — regarded  with  indifference,  if  not  with 
joy,  the  headlong  frenzy  of  the  people  of  the  North  :  for 
in  the  triumph  of  Lincoln,  they  beheld  the  deliverance 
of  the  South.  But  there  were  statesmen  there  also,  who 
were  devoted  in  their  attachment  to  the  union  of  the 
States,  and  to  the  Constitution  which  was  their  bond  of 
partnership — men  of  exalted  patriotism,  gifted  with 
powers  of  oratory  and  persuasion,  and  backed  by 
the  great  conservative  elements  of  their  section. 
They  were  sent  as  commissioned  delegates,  during 
the  Presidential  canvass,  with  words  of  love  and  sor- 
row, to  remonstrate  with  the  fanatics  of  the  North — to 
9 


130  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

supplicate   tlicm  not  to  destroy  the  Union.      But  their 

>n  met  with  derision.  Their  speeches  were  re« 
with  something  like  idiotic  mirth,  or  responded  to  with 
shouts  of  maniacal  defiance.  They  were  told  that  the 
South  could  not  be  kicked  out  of  the  Union — that  her 
threats  were  mere  bluster — that  the  chivalry  of  her  sons 
resembled  the  courage  of  Bob  Acres.  They  were  told, 
in  addition,  that  if  the  South  were  out  of  the  Union,  she 
could  not  be  induced  to  remain  so  long.  They  were 
gravely  informed  that  out  of  the  Union  the  South  would 
Btarve  ;  that  she  could  not  rai.se  sufficient  provisions  to 
feed  her  slaves  ;  that  without  Northern  hay  her  cattle 
would    perish  ; :;:  that   without   Northern    manufacturers, 

*  It  is  is  not  much  to  the  credit  of  the  intelligence  of  the  Northern 
ma--es,  to  relate  that  such  convictions  obtained  almost  universality 
amongst  them.  They  were  indoctrinated  to  so  believe  by  false  teaeh- 
em.  Their  error  is  well  exposed  in  the  following  comparison  of  South- 
ern and  Northern  productive  resources,  taken  from  the  Mobile  Ad- 
vertiscr : 

"We  will  select,  first,  South  Carolina  to  run  the  parallel  with,  for 
sever,  the  chief  of  which  are,  that  she  has  been  BUppo 

produce  nothing  but  cotton  and  rice,  and  she  is  the  most  derided  and 
contemned  of  all  the  shareholding  States.  No(  many  persons  are 
aware  that  this  State  alone  produces  five-sixths  nearly  of  all  the  vice 
grown,  bat  the  Seventh  Con  50,  shows  that  to  be  the  fact ;  be- 

BJ  lea  ne  tfly  all  the  rioe,  she  produces  wheat  to  within  3,000  bushels  of 
all  produced  by  the  six  New  England  States  together.  She  produces 
almost  as  much  corn  as  the  State  of  New  York,  and  6,000,000  of 
bushels  of  that  grain  more  than  all  the  New  England  States  together, 
for  she  produced  upwards  of  10,000,000  bushels.  She  produces  more 
oats  than  Maine;  more  by  1,000,000  of  bushels  than  Massachusetts; 
more  than  1,000,000  bushels  of  potatoes  over  and  above  what  Maine 
produced;  more  beans  and  peas  by  180,000  bushels  than  all  tho 
Northern  States  together,  except  New  York;  mere  beef  cattle  than 
Pennsylvania  by  1,740,  and  almost  as  many  as  all  the  New  England 
States  together ;  more  sheep  than  Iowa  and  Wisconsin  by  10,690; 
more  hogs  than  New   York   by  47,251,  more   than  Pennsylvania  by 


SOUTHERN   RESOURCES.  131 

her  people  would  become  semi-naked  and  semi-barbarous  ; 


25,137,  and  86,000  more  than  all  the  New  England  States,  with  New 
Jersey,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  California  in  the  bargain ;  more 
horses  and  mules  by  10,000  than  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Massachu- 
setts, and  Rhode  Island  together;  besides  all  which  she  produces 
largely  of  oxen,  cows,  and  a  variety  of  products  of  the  smaller 
kinds. 

"  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  produced  jointly  13,363,000  bushels 
of  wheat,  or  211,000  more  than  the  great  wheat  State  of  New  York, 
or  a  quantity  equal  to  the  whole  product  of  the  six  New  England 
States,  with  New  Jersey,  Michigan,  Iowa  and  Wisconsin,  all  put  to- 
gether. Virginia,  North  Carolina  and  Tennessee  produced  115,471,593 
bushels  of  corn,  a  quantity  exceeding  by  300,000  bushels  the  joint 
product  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  New  Jersey,  Connecticut, 
New  Hampshire,  Vermont  and  Maine. 

"  Tennessee  alone  produces  16,500  more  hogs  than  all  the  six  New 
England  States,  with  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  Iowa  and 
Michigan  ;  for  that  State  produced  3,104,800  hogs,  while  the  eleven 
Northern  States  named  produced  but  3,088,394.  Most  people  have 
thought  that  the  North  was  really  the  hog-producing  section,  but  such 
is  by  no  means  the  fact;  the  whole  number  of  hogs  produced  in  1850 
was  30,316,608,  of  which  the  slaveholding  States  furnished  20,770,730, 
or  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  whole  swine  production. 

11  It  will  doubtless  surprise  many  persons  to  be  told  that  the  seven 
Gulf  or  Cotton  States  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana,  Arkansas  and  Texas,  produce  45,187  more  beef  than 
the  six  New  England  States,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  New 
Jersey,  Indiana,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  altogether;  but  such  is  the 
fact,  for  the  census  of  1850  tells  us  these  seven  Cotton  States  pro- 
duced 8,857,489  beef  cattle,  while  the  thirteen  Northern  States  named 
produced  3,312,237. 

"  A  single  glance  at  the  live  stock  columns  of  the  Seventh  Census 
will  prove  to  the  inquirer  that  the  Blaveholding  States  produced  more 
beef-cattle  than  tli"  non-slaveholding  by  1,782,587.  That  while  the 
North  produced  2,541,121  oovs,  the  Boutb  produoed  8,829,810  That 
the  Northern  States  produced  866,396  work-oxen  against  820,340  pro- 
duced by  the  Southern  States.  That  while  the  North  produced 
2,310,961  horses  and  males,  the  South  produced  250,358  more,  for  the 
Southern  production  was  2,570,319." 


132  CAUSE   AND    CONTRAST. 

that  but  fur  Northern  protection,  she  would  be  crushed 
beneath  the  angry  heel  of  servile  insurrection;  in  short, 
that  the  was  neither  useful  nor  ornamental  to  the  North, 
only  as  a  mere  appanage  of  empire. 

0,  Jerusalem  !  Jerusalem  !  that  stonest  the  prophets 
and  slay  est  those  that  are  sent  unto  thee  !  The  North 
spurned  the  counsels  of  the  patriotic  and  the  wise — fol- 
lowed the  leadership  of  demagogues,  fanatics,  and  false 
teachers — and  on  the  Cth  day  of  November,  18G0,  played 
the  last  act  in  a  Nation's  tragedy ;  deliberately 
walked  up  to  the  ballot-box  ;  elected  Abraham  Lincoln  ; 
solemnly  violated  her  part  of  the  Federal  contract;  and 
severed  forever  the  sacred  cords  of  Union  and  frater- 
nity between  the  States.  Sue  was  the  original  and 
wilful  Secessionist.  But  South  Carolina  responded 
next  day  :  RESURGAM  !  The  following  month  found 
her  out  of  the  Union.  The  Revolution  spread  "  with 
giant  beard  of  flame."  Mississippi,  Texas,  Florida, 
Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Louisiana,  soon  followed  her  ex- 
ample. The  work  of  ruin  commenced  at  the  North. 
Mercantile  houses  failed  to  meet  the  demands  of  their 
creditors  ;  banks  suspended  specie  payments  ;  mechanics 
and  laborers  were  suddenly  east  out  of  employment ;  im- 
portations from  foreign  countries  ceased,  and  ships  lay 
idle  in  their  docks.  The  prophets  who  heralded  the 
advent  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  had  previously  inoculated  the 
North  with  the  conviction,  that  his  elevation  to  the  Pre- 
sidency would  quiet  agitation — would  put  an  end  to  dis- 
cord— would  usher  in  the  golden  days  of  peace,  harmony, 
and  prosperity  :  hence  all  eyes  were  turned  to  him  for 
relief,  lie  was  implored  by  suffering  millions  to  come 
forward  and  stem  the  torrent — to  allay  the  fears  of  men 
— to  give  assurances  of  justice,  equality,  and  protection 


LINCOLN'S   IIEGIRA.  133 

in  their  rights,  to  the  disaffected  ;  but  his  lips  were  closed 
by  other  hands ;  the  prayers  of  his  petitioners,  "were 
treated  by  him  with  much  of  that  mute  stolidity,  stripped 
however  of  the  venerable  dignity  which  adds  mystery  to 
the  silence,  of  the  Sphynx  of  Cheops.  Salutare  tuum 
exspeetabo,  Domine,  was  the  sublime  exclamation  of  the 
pious  Jacob  ;  and  with  kindred  resignation,  the  North 
now  waited  for  the  hour  when  the  opening  of  her  oracle's 
lips  would  impart  balm  to  the  nation's  heart. 

At  length  the  hegira  from  Illinois  to  Washington 
commenced  ;  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  at  the  moment  when  the 
whole  country  was  in  revolutionary  chaos,  informed 
starving  women  and  idle  men,  that  "nobody  was  hurt." 
For  the  first  time  the  film  was  momentarily  removed 
from  the  eyes  of  the  North.  Her  people  apprehended 
that  the  power  of  their  ruler  was  founded  upon  their  own 
folly  ;  and  that  his  fancied  greatness  rested  upon  a  basis 
of  weakness. 

Contrition  generally  follows  the  commission  of  a  wrong 
act,  and  they  were  seemingly  contrite — feignedly,  but 
boisterously  so.  The  heart- desolation  of  our  first  pa- 
rents, upon  their  expulsion  from  Paradise — the  affliction 
of  Job — the  regret  of  Jonas  in  the  bowels  of  the  whale 
— or  the  grief  of  that  father  whose  son  was  sold  into 
Egyptian  bondage — could  not  compare  with  the  bitter 
sorrow  of  the  North,  upon  her  awaking  to  a  full  realiza- 
tion of  her  sin.  But  progression,  not  retrogression,  is 
the  distinguishing  quality  of  vice.  As  the  spider  weaves 
the  fly  into  the  labyrinth  of  his  web,  so  the  fanaticism  of 
a  people  envelopes  a  State  in  ruin  ;  and  this  repentance 
of  the  North,  being  brief  and  evanescent,  she  had  not 
the  moral  qualities  of  redeeming  her  errors,  by  attempt- 
ing to  repair  the   injuries  which  she  had  inflicted,  for 


134  Bl    AND    CONTRA- 

she  Dover  recognized  a  nice  distinction  in  cither  ethics 
or  politics. 

Her  Congress  was  in  session;  she  had  laid  upon  its 

a  numerous  petitions,  praying  that  something  might 
he  done  to  heal  the  wound  and  restore  health  to  the  body 
politic.  But  her  Representatives  were  composed  of 
knaves  and  fools,  possessed  of  the-  twin  disease  of  igno- 
rance and  dishonesty.  They  spurned  alike  prayers  and 
arguments;  they  exulted  in  the  banishment  of  patriots 
and  statesmen  from  the  halls  of  legislation  ;  and  they 
finally  converted  the  last  Congress  of  the  United  States 
into  a  hospital  for  revolutionists,  office-seekers,  and  spe- 
culators. Every  measure  of  peace  and  conciliation  pro- 
j  I  in  that  body,  and  designed  to  secure  the  perma- 
nent autonomy  of  the  Republic,  came  from  the  South. 
Amongst  numerous  others,  Senator  Toombs,  of  Georgia, 
brought  forward  a  plan  of  reconciliation,  in  harmony 
with  the  Constitution,  and  the  principles  upon  which  the 
Federation  was  founded,  but  it  was  disdainfully  rej< 

tor  Crittenden,  of  Kentucky,  came  forth  with  pro- 
posed amendments  to  the  Constitution.  Their  provisions 
were  humiliating  to  the  South,  un-American  in  spirit, 
and,  like  all  compromises,  calculated  to  inspire  future 
agitation  ;  yet,  with  the  hope  of  avoiding  immediate  dis- 
union and  civil  war,  the  Representatives  of  the  South 
voted  for  their  adoption  ;  but  they  were  contemptuously 
defeated  by  those  of  the  North.  Senator  Davis,  of  Mis- 
sissippi— now  the  patriot  President  of  the  Confederate 
States — introduced  a  series  of  resolutions  infringing  upon 
no  right  of  the  North,  and  only  securing  to  the  South, 
that  which  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  as  expounded 
by  the  Supreme  Court,  declared  to  be  her  just  dues;  but 
they  were  scornfully   voted   down.       The  great,  ancient 


EFFORTS  FOR  RECONCILIATION.         135 

and  dignified  State  of  Virginia — the  mother  of  sages, 
statesmen,  and  heroes,  in  whose  soil  repose  the  remains  of 
Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Madison — proposed  the  hold- 
ing of  a  "  Peace  Convention,"  where  all  the  States 
might  be  represented,  with  a  determination  of  adjusting 
existing  difficulties,  and  of  restoring  harmony  once  more 
to  the  distracted  Union.  The  Convention  met.  It  was 
composed  of  many  eminent  men,  of  exalted  station,  wise 
in  years,  and,  like  Pylian  Nestor,  sage  in  council.  A 
majority  of  all  the  States  were  represented  there.  After 
long  and  wearied  deliberations,  extending  over  whole 
weeks,  and  while  a  nation's  anxious  eyes,  hopeful  and 
expectant,  were  rivetted  upon  them,  they  agreed  upon  a 
political  catholicon — one-sided,  as  usual,  and  unjust  to 
the  South.  It  was  submitted  to  Congress,  now  a  Repub- 
lican rump  and  cabal ;  but  it  failed  to  meet,  on  the  part 
of  the  North,  with  either  decent  or  respectful  considera- 
tion. Every  plea  for  conciliation — every  measure  for 
concession  proposed — were  treated  by  these  madmen,  as 
so  many  evidences  of  "rebel"  weakness  and  vacillation. 
The  temple  of  their  liberties  was  on  fire,  but  instead  of 
water,  they  cast  oil  upon  the  flames. 

Concession  might  have  disarmed  prejudice;  might 
have  restored  health  to  discontent;  would  certainly 
have  arrested  the  progress  of  revolution.  But  "  Repub- 
lican" Senators  and  Members  of  Congress  were  adi 
to  so  wise  a  policy.  Minerva  had  forsaken  them.  They 
clung  to  a  vulgar  policy  of  "consistency"  in  error; 
forgetting  that  true  statesmanship  doefl  Dot  depend  upon 
Berrile  Bubserviency  to  past  fallacies  of  opinion.  The 
truly  consistent  statesman,  will  not  so  much  con 
his  mistakes  in  the  ]  ■  will  what  it  is  his  duty 

to  accomplish  for  the  present  and  the  future.     The  late 


136  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

Sir  Kobert  Tcel  once  overthrew  a  British  administration, 
Mid  rode  into  power  upon  the  hobby  of  "protection;" 
but  in  i  fen  y.ars  later,  the  fallacy  of  his  policy  became 
to  him  self-evident,  and  he  did  not  hesitate  to  swallow 
his  own  political  sword.  Both  he  and  the  Duke  of 
"Wellington  had  previously  performed  a  similar  feat  of 
deglutition,  when  they  conceded  Catholic  emancipation 
to  Ireland.  And  a  greater  than  cither  of  them — a 
greater,  in  political  wisdom,  than  any  Briton  that 
ever  lived  (Bacon  excepted) — Edmund  Burke — when  he 
found  that  the  interests  of  a  whole  empire  demanded  it, 
ignored,  and  set  at  defiance,  the  commands  of  his  con- 
stituents. But  the  representative  men  of  the  North 
were  not  to  be  governed  by  the  dictates  of  a  universal 
policy.  Creatures  of  narrow  minds  and  easy  virtue, 
tiny  were  ruled  by  passion  and  corruption  in  their 
actions.  They  assailed  with  crimination  and  threats, 
those  whom  they  had  grossly  wronged  and  injured,  and 
recrimination  and  defiance  were  flouted  back  into  their 
teeth.  They  persevered  in  malignity,  until  the  affec- 
tions of  those  whom  benevolence  rendered  kindly  dis- 
posed to  them,  were  alienated  from  their  section  and 
their  Government. 

At  length  the  4th  day  of  March,  1861,  arrived.  It 
was  the  day  upon  which  Abraham  Lincoln  was  to  be 
inaugurated  President.  A  rival  Government — the  future 
hope  of  the  Southern  Republic — was  established  and 
in  full  force,  at  Montgomery,  Alabama.  It  had  posses- 
sion of  nearly  all  the  arsenals  and  fortifications  in  seven 
sovereign  States,  whose  people  were  pledged  to  maintain 
their  inalienable  freedom  and  independence.  Forts 
Sumter  and  Pickens  were  beleaguered  with  armed  and 
resolute  men.     All  hopes  of  peace,  amity,  and  fraternity, 


INAUGURATION   OF   LINCOLN.  137 

depended  upon  the  policy  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  hour 
for  his  inauguration  came.  He  was  surrounded  by  all 
the  pomp  and  circumstances  of  solemnity.  The  oath, 
to  support  the  laws  and  carry  out  in  their  integrity  the 
provisions  of  the  Constitution,  was  to  be  administered 
to  him  by  the  Chief  Justice  of  that  Court,  whose  high 
behests  he  had  previously  boasted  that  he  would  not 
obey,  when  contrary  to  his  preconceived  notions.  From 
the  hand  of  that  venerable  functionary,  however,  he 
received  the  sacred  book  of  God's  written  laws ;  after 
his  lips  he  repeated  the  words  which  sealed  a  bond 
betwixt  him  and  Heaven.  How  he  has  respected  this 
awful  bond,  chaining  him  to  the  responsibility  of  the 
hereafter  of  life — how  he  has  violated  the  Constitution 
and  the  laws — how  he  has  trampled  upon  human 
liberty — how  he  has  made  war  without  authority — how 
he  has  strangled  the  press — how  he  has  wantonly  de- 
stroyed public  property — and  how  he  has  set  an  example 
to  mankind,  of  immorality,  perjury,  and  godlessness,  we 
will  presently  have  to  relate. 

But  the  next  scene  of  the  mournful  drama  was  the 
reading  of  the  inaugural.  It  matters  not  whether  this 
address  was,  or  was  not,  written  by  Mr.  Seward ;  the 
Northern  President  is  responsible  for  it.  Its  words 
were  as  skillfully  ambiguous  as  those  of  a  Delphic 
Oracle.  Like  the  veil  of  Mokanna,  it  was  made  the 
instrument  of  concealing  dark  designs,  iniquitous  and 
flagitious.  Senators  from  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia, 
Kentucky,  Arkansas,  Missouri,  and  North  Carolina,  re- 
mained after  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  in  an  extra 
session  of  the  Senate,  to  confirm  Executive  appoint- 
ments and  transact  other  public  business.  Daily  they 
beheld   the    future   policy   of  the   new   President   fore- 


U>  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

He  nominated  as  his  staff,  to  every  de| 

cf  the  public  service,  notorious  abolitionists  and 
Unrelenting  cocrcionists.  He  made  William  II.  Seward 
etary  of  State;  Salmon  P.  Chase  Secretary  <>f  the 
Treasury:  and  Montgomery  Blair  Postmaster  General. 
11  sent  Anson  Purlingame  as  his  representative  to 
Austria:  Cassius  M.  Clay  to  Russia:  Carl  Schuri  to 
Spain;  Jas.  E.  Harvey  to  Portugal;  Charles  F.  Adams 
to  England;  and  Joshua  EL  Giddings  to  Canada.  Thus, 
the  statesman  of  the  South,  who  remained  in  the  old 
Senate  Chamber,  witnessed  the  subversion  of  the  princi- 
ples which  had  lung  imparted  prosperity  and  stability 
to  the  American  Government.  They  beheld  rank  revo- 
lutionists and  incendiary  politicians,  pledged  to  the  over- 
throw of  their  dearest  institutions,  seize  the  reins  of 
power.  Put  accustomed  to  obey  the  laws,  they  ac- 
quiesced, and  confirmed  the  nominations  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 
And  the  hour  for  concession  having  passed,  the  intervals 
of  the  session  not  occupied  by  the  transactions  of  Execu- 
tive business,  were  improved  by  them  in  endeavoring  to 
learn  from  their  Republican  colleagues,  what  policy  the 

Government  WOuld  pursue  tow  aril  the  Confederate  States. 

They  knew  that  a  restoration  or  reconstruction  of  the 
Union  had  become  impracticable;  but  before  the  curtain 

was  drawn  over  the  last  Congress  of  the  United  Slates, 
it  was  their  wish  to  have  to  the  people  a  legacy  of  peaee. 
In  speeches,  infused  with  eloquence  and  fraught  with  the 
essence  of  purest  patriotism,  they  addressed  themselves 
to  those  who  now  wielded  power,  cither  for  good  or 
evil.  They  counselled  moderation,  conciliation,  amity. 
Put  they  were  laconically  told  that  "the  laws  would  be 
enforced."  Those  who  never  obeyed  the  laws,  or  revered 
the  Federal  Constitution — who  made  it  their  jocund  boast 


PHILOSOPHY   OF   TYRANNY.  139 

to  have  violated  each — and  who  were  soon  to  trample  upon 
every  vestige  of  State  and  individual  rights — now  affected 
supreme  love  for  both.  They  were  conspiring  to  "let  slip 
the  dogs  of  war."  Soon  the  din  of  arms  was  to  resound 
along  the  line  of  border  States ;  along  the  Mississippi 
and  the  Potomac ;  brother  would  meet  brother  in  the 
shock  of  death  ;  a  war  would  be  waged,  which  would  make 
Hell  rejoice — a  war  of  subjugation  and  extermination, 
waged  by  the  North  against  the  South. 


XVI. 

A  government  which  does  not  rest  upon  the  consent  of 
the  governed,  is  necessarily  an  odious  and  bad  govern- 
ment— bad,  because  even  the  benefits  it  may  confer  are 
the  fruits  of  usurpation.  If  the  axiom  be  true,  that  the 
power  of  governing  is  but  the  commission  of  God  to  the 
ruler,  the  trust  is  sufficiently  onerous  and  responsible, 
even  when  willingly  acquiesced  in  by  the  governed. 
But  for  him  that  usurps  power  to  rule  over  a  people  who 
despise  him,  there  can  be  no  other  name  than  tyrant. 
To  govern  a  people  against  their  will,  is  a  crime  against 
humanity,  an  insult  to  reason,  and  an  outrage  upon 
liberty.  Such  a  ruler  must,  of  necessity,  be  a  con- 
queror. His  jurisdiction  is  maintained  by  the  remorse- 
less ravage  of  States — by  covering  his  path  with  death, 
terror,  and  desolation — by  rendering  himself  hateful  to 
the  virtuous ;  sacrificing  the  heroic,  and  enslaving  the 
free.  The  bravest  of  his  friends  and  foes  fall  together, 
the  victims  of  his  pride,  tyranny,  and  usurpation.     Hav- 


140  AND    CONTRAST. 

ing  become  himself  the  first  violator  of  public  bnv,  bis 
followers  will  emulate  bis  evil  example,  until  general 
crime  takes  tbe  place  of  regular  order,  and  the  fiercer 
passions  of  hatred  and  revenge,  substitute  humanity  and 
sociology.  By  bis  influence,  commerce  and  agriculture 
are  ruined — the  plastic  and  mechanic  arts  sink  into  de- 
crepitude— science,  literature,  and  religion  are  neglected 
or  forgotten — demoralization  becomes  contagious — good 
men  are  forced,  or  deluded,  into  a  co-partnership  of 
action  with  the  despicable — villainy  and  profligacy  are 
licensed  to  invade  tbe  sanctuaries  of  virtue  and  purity — 
and  while  innocence  and  industry  are  stripped  of  armor 
and  shield,  indecency  and  crime  stalk  abroad  gigantic, 
unchecked,  and  unpunished :  for  these  are  inevitable 
consequences  of  war. 

And  even  when  war  is  justly  waged ;  when  it  is  forti- 
fied by  principles  of  humanity  and  right ;  when  the 
patriot's  sword  is  unsheathed  to  defend  his  country's 
liberties;  its  evils  are  only  extenuated,  but  not  oblite- 
rated. It  brings  jealousy  and  rivalry  into  the  camp  of 
friends;  it  covers  the  earth  with  carnage;  it  strips  the 
parent  of  the  child ;  it  divorces  the  husband  from  his 
wife ;  it  sets  villages  and  cities  in  flames ;  it  converts 
happy  homes  into  temples  of  misery  and  mourning ;  it 
makes  of  smiling  Ceres  a  woful  Suppliant ;  and  the 
proudest  victory  is  achieved  upon  the  ruins  of  a  flourish- 
ing glory.  The  martyr's  crown,  and  the  praise  of  his- 
tory, may  reward  tbe  patriot  who  falls  in  defence  of  his 
freedom  ;  but  when  the  sword  is  drawn  to  oppress,  ho 
who  wields  it  is  a  murderer  and  a  robber. 

But  since  tho  world  began  —  since  war  first  cursed 
earth  and  degraded  man — it  would  be  difficult  to  dis- 
cover, in  the  pages  of  universal  history,  tho  record  of 


NORTHERN   FRATERNITY.  141 

so  unholy  and  iniquitous  a  civil  strife,  as  that  into  which 
Abraham  Lincoln  has  plunged  the  American  States. 
The  war  which  he  wages  is  a  bastard  begotten  of  power 
and  arrogance.  He,  his  advisers,  and  the  section  of  the 
old  Republic  to  which  he  belongs,  had,  during  the  quar- 
ter of  a  century  previous  to  his  inauguration,  heaped 
abuse,  and  outrage,  and  wrong,  upon  the  people  they 
are  now  endeavoring  to  crush,  subjugate,  and  extermi- 
nate. They  represented  that  the  South  hung,  like  a 
mill-stone,  round  the  neck  of  the  Union,  retarding  her 
progress  and  blighting  her  prosperity.  They  inculcated 
in  all  of  their  moral  teachings  and  political  proclama- 
tions—  some  directly  and  others  indirectly  —  that  she 
would  be  "let  slide,"  or  that  slavery  should  be  abo- 
lished, ere  the  North  could  take  her  proper  place  among 
the  nations.  And,  resolved  at  length  to  preserve  her 
institutions,  protect  her  property,  and  bear  the  responsi- 
bility of  her  own  sins  and  disadvantages,  the  South 
separated  herself  from  what  seemed  to  be  a  dissatisfied 
partner;  but  implored  a  continuance  of  peace  and  friend- 
ship in  parting.  Here  the  North  changed  front.  She 
declared  that  the  South  should  not  depart ;  that  she 
should  still  remain  in  the  Union,  but  as  an  inferior, 
without  the  protection  guarantied  by  the  Constitution, 
and  stripped  of  her  four  thousand  millions  of  dollars' 
worth  of  slave  property. 

This  is  not  the  language  of  exaggeration  ;  it  is  the 
doctrine  promulgated  by  the  Northern  press,  enunciated 
by  Northern  leaders,  and  practiced  and  carried  out  by 
Northern  generals,  ever  since  the  godless  invasion  of 
the  Northern  hordes  begun.  Charles  Sumner,  in  a 
speech  recently  delivered  by  bin  before  the  Republican 
Convention  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  declared  that 


148  CAUSE   AND    CONTRAST. 

py  should  be  abolished,   and  the  South  conquered. 
lell   Phillips,  the  Belial  of  this  great  infernal  plot, 
whose 


tongue 


DroppM  manna,  and  could  make  the  worse  appear 
The  better  reason, " 

in  language  more  classical  and  forcible  than  that  of  his 
rhetorical  colleague  in  crime,  maintained  that  such  "was 
the  object  of  this  relentless  war.  Gen.  Jim  Lane  said 
there  would  be  an  army  of  one  color  marching  into  Slave 
States,  and  an  army  of  another  color  inarching  out. 
Rev.  Dr.  Bellows,  in  consecrating  the  arms  of  Northern 
regiments,  invoked  God  to  speed  the  abolition  cause. 
Rev.  Dr.  R.  J.  Breckinridge  declared  that  this  rebellion 
shall  be  put  down,  it  matters  not  at  what  expenditure  of 
money,  or  what  sacrifice  of  the  blood  of  rebels,  or  their 
wives  and  children!  The  Rev.  Dr.  Hitchcock,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Goodell,  John  Jay,  Oliver  Johnson,  and  other  shin- 
ing lights  of  the  North,  lay  and  clerical,  have  gone  still 
farther  than  Phillips  or  Sumner.  At  a  public  meeting 
held  a  few  weeks  since  in  the  city  of  New  York,  con- 
vened for  the  purpose  of  devising  a  plan  whereby  the 
present  fratricidal  conflict  should  be  made  "short  and 
decisive,"  it  was  resolved  that  "the  speedy  and  complete 
liberation  of  the  slaves  on  the  soil,"  had  become  a  neces- 
sity ;  that  to  effect  this,  "  the  free  colored  people  of  the 
United  States  should  be  encouraged  to  enlist  in  the 
great  enterprise;"  and  that,  as  Leo  X.  had  said,  not 
only  the  Christian  religion,  but  Nature,  cried  out  against 
slavery.  "  The  utmost  good  nature  pervaded  the  meet- 
ing, and  the  feeling  in  favor  of  the  immediate  abolition 
of  slavery,  as  a  necessity  of  the  war  power,  was  unani- 
mous," according  to  the  New  York  Times.     This  same 


NORTHERN    PRESS   BELLIGERENT.  143 

journal  afterwards  inculcated,  that  there  could  be  no 
peace  —  no  end  of  war — no  compromise — while  slavery 
existed.  The  Chicago  Tribune  —  understood  to  be  the 
leading  organ  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  Illinois — re-echoed  the 
language  of  the  Times,  branded  the  Southern  institution 
as  the  sum  of  all  villainies,  and  laid  down  the  axiom,  that 
"whenever  a  slave  is  claimed  as  the  property  of  another, 
the  claimant  is  a  traitor  and  a  rebel."  "In  the  course 
of  events,"  says  the  Boston  Transcript,  "  the  hour  has 
arrived  for  settling  the  question,  whether  the  inherent 
despotism  of  the  slave  power,  or  a  republic  true  to  free- 
dom, shall  rule  from  the  lakes  to  the  gulf,  from  ocean  to 
ocean."  "  We  hold  that  slavery  is  the  cause  of  the 
war,"  responds  the  Delaware  (N.  Y.)  Express,  "and 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  those  in  whom  lie  the  power,  to 
rid  the  country  of  this  cause."  "  The  North  is  in  arms 
against  slavery,"  exclaims  the  Rockland  (Me.)  Gazette; 
"  it  is  fighting  against  the  slavery  interest  and  nothing 
else."  "  There  cannot  and  never  will  be  peace  again  in 
what  formed  the  United  States,  so  long  as  slavery  exists 
in  the  South,"  is  an  apothegm  from  the  Ilarrisburg  (Pa.) 
Telegraph.  The  New  York  World  will  accept  from  the 
South  not  even  "abdication."  "When  there  is  danger," 
it  adds,  "  that  it  shall  come  to  that,  let  slaveholders 
beware.  The  day  it  is  settled  that  cither  slavery  or 
the  government  must  perish,  that  day  slavery  will  be 
doomed."  And  again:  "If  the  North  cannot  conquer 
rebellion  without  emancipation,  it  will  conquer  it  with 
emancipation."  "Close  the  column  and  let  the  battle 
rage  with  Napoleonic  fury;  while  the  earth  shall  open 
to  receive,  heaven  will  expand  to  accommodate  t ho 
spirits  of  those  that  shall  fall" — shouts  the  Cincinnati 
Times,  borrowing  its  theology  from  Mohamm-'d. 


1  11  0AU81   AND   CONTRAST. 

In  harmony  with  this  settled  purpose  —  with  such 
devilish  and  fanatical  teachings  —  and  with  the  long 
nurtured  resolution  of  their  section,  the  Northern,  army 
and  its  officers,  immediately  upon  their  invasion  of 
Southern  soil,  commenced  a  remorseless  pillage  of  slave 
property.  This  policy  was  a  part  of  the  war  strategy 
of  General  Roeencreni  in  Western  Virginia  —  a  policy 
whereby  it  was  hoped  to  make  wavering  minds  loyal  to 
the  "Union."  It  was  practised  by  Gen.  B.  F.  Butler, 
while  he  commanded  at  Fortress  Monroe,  upon  a  splen- 
did scale:  his  hired  myrmidons  having  robbed  farmers, 
whose  only  crime  was  devotion  to  freedom,  of  over  ono 
thousand  negroes — which  the  invaders  naively  denomi- 
nated "contrabands."  And  this  exploit  of  degraded 
rapine,  on  the  part  of  an  inglorious  and  pusillanimous 
commander,  was  sanctioned  by  President  Lincoln's 
retary  of  War,  Simon  Cameron.  But  it  was  reserved 
for  Gen.  Fremont  to  cross  the  Rubicon  of  Barbarism — 
to  endeavor  to  have  re-enacted,  in  the  South,  that 
ineffably  horrible  spectacle  which  desecrated  the  soil 
of  llayti.  Appointed  major-general  to  command  the 
1  raJ  army  in,  and  subjugate  the  State  of  Missouri, 
one  of  his  first  official  acts  was  to  issue  an  edict  of 
emancipation  to  the  blacks!  Regarding  this  step  as 
politically  imprudent  and  premature,  until  his  heel  could 
be  more  firmly  planted  upon  the  necks  of  Maryland  and 
Kentucky,  Mr.  Lincoln  requested  his  subordinate  to 
"modify"  the  proclamation.  But  Fremont  knew  his 
master's  heart,  lie  disregarded  the  request,  had  a  new 
supply  printed  after  its  receipt,  and  circulated  his  own 
decree  broad-cast  over  Missouri. 

There  is  an  identity  in  the  acts  of  tyrants,  which  can- 
not fail  of  making  sad  impressions  upon  the  mind  of  a 


IIAPPY   COINCIDENCES.  145 

historical!.  Twice,  within  a  period  of  less  than  a  single 
century,  have  two  different  and  implacable  foes  sought 
the  bloody  spoliation  of  the  South,  by  means  of  servile 
insurrections.  On  the  7th  day  of  November,  1775, 
Lord  Dunmorc  issued,  in  Virginia,  a  proclamation  simi- 
lar in  spirit  and  intent  to  that  addressed  by  Gen.  Fre- 
mont, in  1861,  to  the  people  of  Missouri.  "  You  may 
observe,"  writes  the  former  three  days  afterwards  to 
General  Howe,  "  that  I  offer  freedom  to  the  blacks  of 
all  white  rebels  that  join  me,  in  consequence  of  which 
there  arc  two  or  three  hundred  already  come  in,  and 
those  I  form  into  corps  as  fast  as  they  come  in,  giving 
them  white  officers  and  non-commissioned  in  proportion. 
And  from  this  plan  I  make  no  doubt  of  getting  men 
enough  to  reduce  this  colony  to  a  proper  sense  oj 
their  duty."  A  Virginia  Convention  indignantly  re- 
sponded to  the  proclamation ;  but  the  final  reply  was 
given  by  George  Washington,  at  the  cannon's  mouth, 
before  Yorktown,  to  Lord  Cornwallis,  in  1781.  And  how 
well  Missouri  has  emulated  these  noble  examples,  in  an- 
swering the  ordinance  of  Fremont,  let  the  battles  which 
she  fought,  and  the  victories  which  she  won,  at  Spring- 
field and  Lexington,  relate  :  for  there  is  a  coincidence  of 
virtue  in  the  deeds  of  patriots,  as  there  is  of  ^baseness  in 
the  actions  of  tyrants. 

But  it  is  melancholy,  because  it  is  far  from  being 
hopeful  to  the  cause  of  human  freedom,  to  reflect  that 
from  the  great  experiment  of  American  liberty,  could 
spring  a  government,  characterized  by  a  despotic  frenzy, 
which  overshadows  that  of  the  administration  of  Lord 
North:  and  that,  more  than  a  century  ago,  the  relations 
of  master  and  servant  should  have  been  better  under- 
stood by  an  Irishman,  than  they  are  now  by  our  adver- 
10 


146  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

sarics.  "  The  high  aristocratic  spirit  of  Virginia  ami  the 
Southern  Colonics,  it  has  been  proposed,  I  know,"  said 
I  and  Burke,  "  to  reduce,  by  declaring  a  general  en- 
franchisement of  their  slaves.  This  project  has  had  its 
advocates  and  panegyrists ;  yet  I  never  could  argue  my- 
self into  any  opinion  of  it.  Slaves  arc  often  much  attached 
to  their  masters.  A  general  wild  oiler  of  liberty  would 
not  always  be  accepted.  History  furnishes  few  instances 
of  it.  It  is  sometimes  as  hard  to  persuade  slaves  to  be 
free,  as  it  is  to  compel  freemen  to  be  slaves.  *  *  * 
But  when  we  talk  of  enfranchisement,  do  we  not  perceive 
that  the  American  master  may  enfranchise  too,  and  arm 
servile  hands  in  defence  of  freedom?  *  *  *  Slaves, 
as  these  black  people  are,  and  dull  as  all  people  are 
from  slavery,  must  they  not  a  little  suspect  the  offer  of 
freedom  from  that  very  nation  which  luts  *><>hl  them  to 
thi  ir  jiresent  masters P*  But  Burke,  who  looked  over  the 
heads  of  centuries,  spoke  truth  in  vain.  George  III. 
and  Lord  North  resolved  upon  the  subjugation  of  the 
colonists.  The  colonists  were  British  subjects — they  were 
children  of  Great  Britain — they  owed  allegiance  to  the 
English  crown — they  were  "rebels" — the  British  Consti- 
tution was  founded  upon  justice  and  benignity,  and  its 
supremacy  should  be  maintained;  albeit  Americans  were 
deprived  of  a  full  participation  in  its  benefits. 

The  fruit  of  this  insolently  wicked  policy  has  passed 
into  the  morals  of  history.  And  yet  it  is  revived,  copied, 
adopted,  by  the  administration  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
They  have  both  perverted  and  violated  the  Constitution 
of  their  country.  That  grand  instrument  of  human 
liberty,  begotten  of  the  wisdom  of  purest  statesman- 
ship, baptized  in  the  blood  of  noblest  patriots,  and 
fostered   through   a   long    term    of  suffering    and   self- 


STATE   SOVEREIGNTY.  147 

denial,  has  been  by  them  corrupted  and  defloured. 
According  to  its  own  preamble,  it  was  framed  to  "  es- 
tablish justice,  ensure  domestic  tranquility,  provide  for 
the  common  defence,  and  promote  the  general  welfare  " 
of  the  several  States  embraced  in  the  perfect  Union. 
But  according  to  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  Cabinet,  its  pur- 
pose was  to  consummate  a  consolidated  nationality, 
and  overthrow  the  integrity  of  State  sovereignty. 
"  The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by 
the  Constitution  " — reads  the  tenth  article  of  the  great 
Charter — "  are  reserved  to  the  States  respective!!/,  or 
to  the  people."  "The  States  have  no  power,  other 
than  that  which  they  derive  from  the  Nation,"  replies 
the  Government  at  Washington. 

But  the  States  were  separate,  sovereign,  and  inde- 
pendent, before  the  Constitution  had  existence.  They 
were  sovereign,  independent,  and  separate,  when  they 
rebelled  against  the  despotic  authority  of  the  mother 
country.  Governor  Bernard,  in  his  official  dispatches, 
styled  them  "  the  American  Governments."  And  they 
remained,  respectively,  independent,  separate,  and  sove- 
reign, after  the  Constitution  was  ordained.  Some  of 
these  governments  refused,  for  a  time,  to  adopt  it  as  a 
league  of  alliance.  Even  when  they  acceded,  they  still 
retained  their  individual  constitutions,  legislatures,  laws, 
distinctive  usages,  and  every  paraphernalia  of  freedom; 
and  where  usurpation  (as  in  Maryland)  has  not  prevailed, 
they  do  so  now.  The  Federal  Constitution  had  to  bo 
ratified  by  the  Conventions  of  the  respective  States :  by 
this  mode  only  it  could  attain  the  virtue  of  becoming 
vital.  Had  it  been  rejected  by  a  majority  of  the  States, 
it  would  have  forever  remained  inanimate.  But  having 
been  adopted — did  it  necessarily  follow  that  in  the  case 


148  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

of  its  violation,  it  must  be  perpetual — that  it  was  to 
remain  binding  forever  upon  the  unborn  generation! 
of  the  incomprehensible  future?  If  so,  then  it  resembles 
wedlock,  which  none  but  God  should  put  asunder. 
If  so,  it  is  an  anomaly  in  legislation;  or,  all  legislative 
are  irrepealable  and  eternal.  "But  here  is  an 
extraordinary  case — a  case  of  public  polity,"  objects 
the  sophist.  Aye,  but  it  is,  nevertheless,  a  mere  mutter 
of  international  contract ;  and  Equity,  the  handmaiden 
of  Justice,  must  rule  States  by  the  Bame  standard  which 
is  prescribed  to  individuals.  "A  bargain  broken  on  one 
side  is  broken  on  both,"  said  Daniel  Webster — in  dis- 
cussing a  similar  topic — than  whom,  whatever  may  have 
been  his  defects  as  a  statesman,  there  was  no  greater 
expositor  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws. 

But,  in  the  expression  of  this  opinion,  he  simply  co- 
incided with  the  well  known  doctrines  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary fathers.  They  never  regarded  the  Union  other 
than  a  confederacy  of  States,  leagued  together  "for  the 
common  defence,  and  to  promote  the  general  welfare." 
And    so   the   several    Governments    viewed    it;   otherwise 

the  Union  never  would  have  been  formed.     Mr.  Madison 

maintained  that  a  breach  of  the  fundamental  principles 
of  Union  compact,  by  any  one  part  of  the  societies  com- 
posing it,  would  fully  absolve  the  other  parts  from  their 
voluntary  obligations  to  it;  because  that  the  Federal 
Union  constituted  a  mere  convention  of  individual  States, 
governed  by  the  law  of  nations,  from  which  it  resulted, 
that  "a  breach  of  any  one  article,  by  any  one  party, 
left  all  the  other  parties  at  liberty  to  consider  the  con- 
vention as  dissolved."  From  the  earliest  thought  of 
Union,  until  the  illicit  introduction  of  modern  heresy, 
this  was  the  political   philosophy  of  American   Govern- 


PRINCIPLES    OF    UNION.  149 

mcnt.  "Each  State  retains  its  sovereignty,  freedom  and 
independence,  and  every  power,  jurisdiction,  and  right, 
which  is  not  by  this  Confederation  expressly  delegated 
to  the  United  States  " — reads  the  second  of  the  articles 
of  the  old  Confederation.  "The  said  States,"  says  the 
next  article,  "  hereby  severally  enter  into  a  firm  league 
of  FRIENDSHIP  with  each  other,  for  their  common 
defence,  the  securities  of  their  Liberties,  and  their  mu- 
tual and  general  welfare,  binding  themselves  to  assist 
each  other."  Here  is  the  testimony  of  the  Dead,  vindi- 
cating the  original  and  invariable  attitude  of  the  South, 
and  illustrating  the  doctrines  which  created  the  old 
Union.  And  when  these  articles  proved  inadequate — 
when  it  became  necessary  that  Congress  should  have 
the  power  of  raising  a  revenue  to  sustain  Government 
and  pay  off  the  Revolutionary  debt — and  when,  accord- 
ingly, the  present  Federal  Constitution  was  framed,  the 
States,  with  singular  caution  and  jealousy,  watched  and 
guarded  the  securities  of  their  individual  sovereignties. 
For  commercial  reasons,  the  State  of  Rhode  Island 
refused  to  adopt  the  Constitution,  until  two  years  had 
transpired  after  its  adoption  by  eleven  of  the  other 
States.  North  Carolina  remained,  for  other  reasons, 
but  similar  in  principle,  one  year  out  of  the  Union. 
And  Maryland  remained  three  years  out  of  the  old 
Confederation,  because  the  extent  of  Virginia's  share 
of  the  territories  was  so  great  as  to  endanger  the  future 
equilibrium  of  State  sovereignty.  Virginia  at  length 
magnanimously  removed  this  cause  of  difficulty,  by 
ceding  her  western  territorial  empire  to  the  Convention 
of  States ;  out  of  which  gift  have  since  been  formed,  the 
great  and  antagonistic  Commonwealths  of  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Illinois,   and   Michigan.     So  Achilles  lent  his  arms  to 


1  5  I  AND    CONTRAST. 

indeed  to  be  used  against  him  or  the 
Helh  ni<-  cause;  bat  Hector,  in  the  armor  of  Pelides, 
Oonld  not  be  deemed  more  unnatural  by  Hellas,  than 
o  eye  of  reason,  appears  the  strange  sight  of  tl 
-.  arming  to  subjugate  their  parental  benefactress, 
and  suffocate  the  principles  which  gave  them  liberty  and 
life. 

Bnt  in  the  face  of  this  attempted  matricide!  crime — 
this  sin  of  black  ingratitude — and  of  a  devastating  inva- 
sion— in  defiance  of  the  fundamental  tenets  of  the  Revo- 
lution, and  of  the  time-hallowed  doctrines  of  the  Fathers, 
those  States  arc  now  in  arms  against  nature,  history,  and 
reason.  As  early  as  1798,  the  author  of  the  l>celara- 
tion  of  Independence,  Mr.  Jefferson,  held  "  that  the 
ral  States  composing  the  United  States  of  America,  arc 
not  united  on  the  principle  of  unlimited  submission  to 
their  General  Government;  but  that  *  *  *  as  in 
all  other  cases  of  compact,  having  no  common  je 
each  party  has  an  equal  right  to  judge  for  itself,  as 
well  of  infractions  as  of  the  mode  and  measure  of 
redress."  Ami  this  was  the  theory  espoused  by  Patrick 
Henry,  James  Madison,  Edmund  Randolph,  Mason  and 

Nicholas.  The  idea  of  the  (leiieral  Government's  having 
any  power  other  than  that  of  mere  agency,  was  regarded 
as  un-American  and  iniquitous.  "To  coerce  the  States 
is  one  of  the  maddest  projects  that  was  ever  devised," 
said  Alexander  Hamilton.  "This  Constitution, "  as- 
serted Mr.  Ellsworth,  does  not  attempt  to  coerce  sove- 
reign bodies,  States,  in  their  political  capacities.  No 
coercion  is  applicable  to  such  bodies."  And  during  the 
seventy-two  years  of  our  past  American  self-government, 
the  Constitution  was  administered  sixty  of  those  years, 
in  harmony  with  these  Southern  principles,  and  mainly 


TEXAS   AND   THE   UNION.  151 

by  Southern  statesmen.  Washington's  rule  lasted  eight 
years ;  Jefferson,  Madison,  and  Monroe,  ruled  twenty- 
four  years  ;  Jackson  was  President  eight  years ;  and  the 
reins  of  Government  were  wielded  for  sixteen  years  by 
Harrison,  Tyler,  Polk,  Taylor,  Fillmore,  and  Pierce. 
Add  to  these,  the  four  years'  administration  of  President 
Buchanan,  and  we  have  sixty,  out  of  the  seventy-two 
years,  of  Southern  policy  in  increasing  the  grandeur 
and  perpetuating  the  liberty  of  America.  But  through- 
out this  period  it  was  never  denied,  to  any  considerable 
or  dangerous  extent,  that  the  people  of  one  generation, 
and  of  any  one  political  Commonwealth,  had  the  ri^ht 
to  duly  assemble  in  Convention,  and  alter  or  modify 
their  present  institutions.  The  sovereignty  of  the 
States  was  conceded  to  be  the  sheet-anchor  of  the 
Republic — was  regarded  as  sacred,  inherent,  inalienable, 
and  unrestricted.  For  instance  (and  merely  as  an  illus- 
tration), in  the  year  1845,  it  was  proposed  to  admit 
Texas  as  a  State  into  the  league  of  United  States. 
On  the  1st  day  of  March,  by  joint  resolution,  Congress 
consented  "  that  the  territory  properly  included  and 
rightfully  belonging  to  the  Republic  of  Texas  may  be 
erected  into  a  new  State  ;  "  and  that  "  the  said  Republic 
of  Texas  nhall  retain  all  the  public  funds,  debts,  taxes, 
and  dues  of  every  kind,  which  may  belong  to  or  be  due 
and  owing  said  Republic,"  &c.  &c. ;  "  but  in  no  event  are 
said  debts  and  liabilitiee  to  become  a  charge  on  the 
Government  of  the  United  Statee."  Here  we  witness 
the  hitter  power  in  the  character  of  an  agent,  but  the 
former  in  the  garments  of  a  sovereign.  On  the  29th 
day  of  December  following,  it  was  declared  by  Congress, 
"That  the  State  of  Texas  shall  be  one,  and  is  hereby 
declared  to  be  one,  of  the  United  States  of  America,  and 


CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

admitted  into  the  Union  on  an  equal  footing  -with  the 
nal    Stal  That  "footing"   consisted    of  being 

ed  in  the  guarantees  of  the  Federal  Constitution, 
which  stipulates  upon  its  face,  to  insure  every  Stal 
republican  form  of  government,  and  their  people,  to  the 
posterity,  the  blessings  of  liberty. 
w  this  was  B  contract,  with  well-marked  and  care- 
fully defined  limits,  between  the  United  States  of 
pea  and  the  RepnbllO  of  Texas,  resembling,  in  a 
moral  sense  at  least,  every  other  honorable  covenant 
made  between  men  or  nations  ;  and  the  latter,  finding 
the  conditions  of  the  league  violated — finding  usurpation 
instead  of  Republicanism — tyranny  in  lieu  of  liberty — 
war  in  the  place  of  blessings — injustice  for  equity — 
would  she  not,  of  natural  right,  be  absolved  from  the 
partnership,  and  have  "an  equal  right  to  judge  for  her- 
self as  well  of  infractions  as  of  the  mode  and  measure 
of  redress?"  He  who  would  deny  it,  has  studied 
neither  Grotius  nor  Vattel — Blackstone  nor  Kent — 
he  is  ignorant  of  law. 
This,  however,  is  not  fable;  it  is  fact.  The  principles 
which  rested  the  edifice  of  Union  have  been  ruth- 
lessly subverted.  The  sovereignty  of  the  States  has 
not  only  been  invaded,  but  its  existence  pronounced  a 
mere  myth.  State  Conventions  have  been  dispersed; 
State  Legislatures  banished  or  imprisoned  ;  State  laws 
set  at  open  defiance;  State  elections  tampered  with  and 
corrupted;  and  the  United  States  gazetted   to  mankind 

as  a  Consolidated  Nationality.    "The  Union 

eaeh  of  the  States  " — wrote  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  Message 
to  the  Northern  Congress,  July,  18G1 — "whatever  inde- 
pendence and  liberty  it  had.     The  Union  is  older  than 


LINCOLN   A   DANIEL.  153 

any  of  the  States,  and  in  fact  it  created  them  as  States."* 
The  brazen  effrontery  of  these  falsehoods,  or  the  invin- 
cible ignorance  of  their  author,  might  well  excite  cither 
the  pity  or  contempt  of  a  philosopher,  did  not  history 
teach  that  audacity  and  perfidy  arc  characteristics  of 
tyrants.  The  Commonwealth  of  Virginia,  whose  sages 
were  instrumental  in  forming  the  Union,  and  out  of 
whose  territories  were  made  sovereign  States,  is  told 
that  she  is  younger  than  the  Union ;  North  Carolina, 
which  hesitated  for  more  than  one  year  to  ratify  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  is  taught  that  by  the 
Union  she  was  first  made  a  State ;  and  the  Republic  of 
Texas  is  informed,  that  "  whatever  independence  or 
liberty  she  had,"  flowed  from  the  same  source  !  Surely 
the  North  has  a  Daniel  in  her  Presidential  chair. 

"  I  do  solemnly  swear,  that  I  will  faithfully  execute 
the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and  will,  to 
the  best  of  my  ability,  preserve,  protect,  and  defend, 
the  Constitution  of  the  United   States" — was  the  inau- 


*Such  is  his  opinion.  But  in  a  speech  delivered  by  him,  in  the 
United  States  House  of  Representatives,  January  12th,  1848,  he  said: 
"  Any  people,  anywhere,  being  inclined,  and  having  the  power,  have 
the  right  to  rise  up  and  shake  off  the  existing  government,  and  form 
a  new  one  that  suits  them  better.  This  is  a  most  valuable,  a  most 
sacred  right — a  right  which  we  hope  and  believe  is  to  liberate  the 
world.  Nor  is  the  right  confined  to  cases  in  which  the  whole  people  of 
an  existing  government  may  choose  to  exercise  it.  Any  poll 
such  people  that  can,  may  revolutionize,  and  make  their  own  of  so 
much  of  the  territory  as  they  Inhabit.  More  than  this,  a  majority  of 
any  portion  of  such  people  may  revolutionize,  putting  down  a  minority 
intermingled  with,  or  near  about  them,  who  may  oppose  their  move- 
ments. Such  minority  was  precisely  the  case  of  tho  tories  of  our  own 
revolution.  It  is  a  qualify  of  revolutions  not  to  go  by  old  lines,  or 
old  laics ;  bat  to  break  up  both,  and  make  Row  m 


1")4  C.\  :•    CONTRAST. 

gnration  oath  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  That  Constitution 
recognizes  the  sovereign  independence  of  each  and  every 

— guarantees  to  them  separate  and  free  forms  of 
government — renders  their  laws  and  possessions  exempt 
from  all  external  influences — upholds  them  as  equal 
partners  of  a  general  agency — gave  to  Congress  the 
power  of  regulating  the  territories  for  the  mutual  advan- 
tage of  all — and  clothed  it  with  absolute  and  exclusive 
jurisdiction  (except  in  adjusting  what  might  promote 
the  general  welfare),  only  in  a  district  of  ten  miles 
square:  but  Mr.  Lincoln  interpreted  the  Constitution, 
and  respected  his  oath,  so  as  to  render  State  Govern- 
ments mere  nullities — political  toys — non-entities.  lie 
created    new    offices,    and    swarmed    upon    independent 

a  hireling  myrmidons  to  devour  their  substance. 
lie  raised  standing  armies  without  lawr  and  without  au- 
thority. He  rendered  the  military  power  absolute  over 
the  civil.  And  he  made  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Consti- 
tution the  slave  of  his  will.  The  right  of  the  Federal 
authority  to  make  war  upon,  or  coerce  a  State  into  obc- 
dicnec,  was,  in  the  Convention  that  framed  it,  indignantly 
denied  to  the  Constitution  ;  but  he  has  [undertaken  to 
subjugate  and  lay  waste  fourteen  States,  and  to  crush 
their  peoples  beneath  the  fiery  heel  of  war.  Congress 
alone  had  power  to  raise  and  support  armies  ;  and  to 
provide  for  organizing  and  disciplining  the  militia:  but 
be  usurped  this  power  by  issuing  his  proclamation  calling 
75,000  men  into  the  field.  Congress  alone  had  the  right 
to  declare  war,  to  provide  for  and  maintain  a  navy  ;  but 
this  power  he  assumed  without  authority.  The  right  of 
the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms,  shall  not  be  infringed, 
says  the  Constitution ;  but  upon  this  privilege  he  has 
trampled  in  Maryland,  Missouri,   and  Kentucky.     The 


TYRANNY  AND    USURPATION.  155 

right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble  and  petition 
Government  for  a  redress  of  grievances  was  equally 
inalienable ;  yet  this  right  vras  abolished  in  New  York 
by  police  intervention.  So,  "  no  warrant  shall  issue  but 
upon  probable  cause;"  but  Mr.  Lincoln  procured  the 
arrest  of  inoffensive  citizens  without  either  warrant  or 
cause.*  The  same  Constitution  provides  that  in  all  crim- 
inal prosecutions  the  accused  shall  be  informed  of  the 
nature  and  cause  of  accusation ;  he  hurried  hundreds 
to   the    dungeons  of   his    prisons    and   denied  to    them 

*As  a  single  individual  illustration  of  the  Northern  despotism,  we 
■will  simply  refer  to  the  case  of  Mrs.  Greenhow,  the  widow  of  the  late 
Professor  Greenhow,  formerly  principal  translator  in  the  United  States 
Department  of  State.  From  a  communication  addressed  by  her  to 
Secretary  Seward,  we  make  the  following  extract:  "I  most  respect- 
fully submit,  that  on  Friday,  August  23rd,  without  warrant  or  other 
show  of  authority,  I  was  arrested  by  the  Detective  Police,  and  my 
house  taken  in  charge  by  them  ;  that  all  my  private  letters,  and  papers 
of  a  life-time,  were  read  and  examined  by  them:  that  every  law  of 
decency  was  violated  in  the  search  of  my  house  and  person,  and  by 
the  surveillance  over  me.  We  read  in  history,  that  the  poor  Maria 
Antoinette  had  a  paper  torn  from  her  bosom  by  lawless  hands,  and 
that  even  a  change  of  linen  had  to  be  effected  in  sight  of  her  brutal 
captors.  It  is  my  sad  experience  to  record  even  more  revolting  out- 
rages than  that,  for  during  the  first  days  of  my  imprisonment,  what- 
ever necessity  forced  me  to  seek  my  chamber,  a  detective  stood  sentinel 
at  the  open  door.  And  thus,  for  I  period  of  seven  day-,  1,  with  my 
little  child,  was  placed  absolutely  at  the  merry  of  man  without  charac- 
ter or  responsibility;  that  daring  (he  Brat  evening,  a  portion  of  these 
men  became  brutally  drunk,  and  boasted  in  my  hearing  of  the  "  nice 
times"  they  expected  to  have,  with  the  female  prisoners;  and  that 
rude   violence    Wfl  >lored   servant   girl    during  that 

:it  of  which  I   have  not  been  abb'  to  barn.     For  any 
show  of  dor.. ruin  afterwai  I  I  towards  me,  I  was  indent 

the  Detective  called  Captain  Dennis."  Mr~.  Greenhow  adds,  that  in 
her  own  house,  which  has  been  converted  into  her  prison,  a  public 
prostitute  is  lodged-and  supported  by  the  Federal  Government. 


0AU81    AM)    CONTRAST. 

the  benefits  of  this  provision.     It  guaranteed  that  no 

;  n  shoulfl  be  held  guilty  of  treason,  unless  on  the 
testimony  of  two  "witnesses  to  the  same  overt  act,  or  on 
confusion  in  open  court;  hut  without  evidence,  authority 
of  court,  or  form  of  trial,  he  has  condemned  and  incar- 
cerated men  and  women  upon  mere  suspicion.  It  pro- 
vided that  in  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused 
should  he  entitled  to  the  assistance  of  counsel  for  his 
defence:  he  has  confined  within  the  walls  of  a  military 
fortress  one  of  counsel  for  such  prisoners  (Algernon  S. 
Sullivan;)  and,  although  entitled  to  "a  speedy  and  public 
trial  by  an  impartial  jury,"  he  was  never  confronted  by 
an  accuser.  By  virtue  of  the  eighth  amendment  to  the 
Constitution,  excessive  bail  should  not  be  asked,  exces- 
sive fines  imposed,  nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments 
indicted  :  yet  Mr.  Lincoln  refuses  to  grant  his  victims 
trial — refuses  to  accept  bail  on  their  behalf — and  has 
committed  many  of  them  to  the  cells  invariably  Bel 
for  murderers,  notorious  criminals,  and  incorrigible  vaga- 
bonds. No  person  should  be  subject  for  the  same  offence, 
to  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb  ;  but  he  has 
had  citizens  arrested  and  imprisoned,  then  discharged  as 

guiltless,  and  afterwards  rearrested  and  deprived  of 
liberty.  Congress  was  prohibited  from  making  any  law 
"abridging  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press;"  he 
has  stifled  the  freedom  of  speech,  and  suppressed  the 
circulation  of  every  newspaper  of  his  section,  which 
da  I'd  to  condemn  his  policy.  This  has  been  the  fate  of 
the  New  York  Day  BooJc}  News,  Journal  of  Commerce, 
Freeman  s  Journal,  Brooklyn  "Eagle,  Philadelphia  Chris- 
tian Observer,  Westchester  (Pa.)  Jeffersonian,  Bridge- 
port (Conn.)  Farmer,  and  a  long  catalogue  of  others. 
"  The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons, 


STRANGULATION   OF   LIBERTY.  157 

houses,  papers,  and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches 
and  seizures,  shall  not  bo  violated,  and  no  warrants  shall 
issue  but  upon  probable  cause,  supported  by  oath  or  affir- 
mation particularly  describing  the  place  to  be  searched, 
and  the  persons  or  things  to  be  seized,"  was  a  solemn 
assurance  of  the  Constitution.  But  he  regarded  it  with 
scorn. 

He  had  innocent  men  and  wouien  seized  in  the  silent 
hours  of  night,  by  rude  and  drunken  officers.  lie  had 
houses — which  are  usually  supposed  to  be  castles  of  free- 
men— subjected  to  the  unreasonable  searches  of  a  black- 
guard soldiery,  fished,  for  the  most  part,  from  purlieus  of 
vice  and  sinks  of  degradation.  In  the  seizure  of  private 
papers,  he  went  so  far  as  to  cause  his  marshals  to  make 
a  concerted  descent,  at  three  o'clock  on  a  certain  after- 
noon, upon  every  considerable  telegraph  office  within  the 
compass  of  his  rule,  and  grasp  their  accumulated  dis- 
patches for  the  preceding  twelve  months,  with  a  view  of 
ascertaining  who  were  the  Northern  confidential  corres- 
pondents of  influential  men  in  the  Confederate  States. 
"  The  whole  matter  was  managed  with  the  greatest 
secresy,  and  so  well  planned  that  the  project  was  a 
complete  success,"  said  his  most  unscrupulous  organ 
next  day,  in  announcing  the  consummation  of  the  abom- 
inable manoeuvre.  And,  to  perfect  the  enslavement  of 
those  whom  he  rules,  he  had  the  writ  of  Jiabeas  corpui 
virtually  abolished — that  sacred  privilege  which  carries 
the  mind  of  the  freeman  back  to  the  struggle  at  Runny - 
raedc,  and  weds  the  history  of  the  present  day  to  that  of 
the  Middle  Age.  It  was  provided  by  the  Constitution 
that  "  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  should  not  be  sus- 
pended, unless  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion."  The 
State  of  Maryland  was  not  invaded,  except  by  Federal 


158  LUSI   AND    CONTRAST. 

soldi'  ther  bad  she  rebelled  against  the  Govern- 

ment of  tin-  Union;  yet,  when  one  of  her  citizens — Mr. 
John  Merriman — was  illegally  deprived  of  liberty,  the 
venerable  process,  issued  out  in  bis  behalf,  and  made 
returnable  before  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  St 
who  had  administered  the  oath  of  office  to  the  President, 
it  was  contemptuously  Bpit  upon  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  whose 
sworn  duty  it  was  to  guard  it ;  and  in  every  Northern 
State  this  writ  of  freedom  is  now  suspended  ! 

But  the  tyranny  of  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  stop  with  the 
oppression  of  individuals  ;  he  went  so  far  as  to  render 
the  hereditary  rights  of  societies  nugatory.  "Full  faith 
and  credit,"  reads  the  Constitution,  "shall  be  given  in 
each  State,  to  the  public  acts,  records,  and  judicial  pro- 
ceedings of  every  other  State."  But  the  decrees  of  State 
Conventions;  the  enactments  of  State  Legislatures;  or 
the  proceedings  of  State  Courts,  have  been  treated  by 
him  of  less  value  than  the  paper  upon  which  they  WOW 
recorded.  "Nothing  in  this  Constitution,"  adds  the 
same  great  charter,  "shall  be  so  construed  as  to  preju- 
dice the  claims  of  the  Uni  »,  or  of  any  particu- 
lar State"  to  the  territories  of  the  Union.  Not  one 
foot  of  such  soil  shall  ever  be  given  upto  the  institutions 
of  the  Southern  States,  is  the  magisterial  proclamation 
of  Mr.  Liacoln.  "No  preference  shall  be  given  by  any 
regulations  of  commerce  or  revenue  to  the  ports  of  one 
State  over  another;  nor  shall  vessels,  bound  to  or  from 
one  State,  be  o\>liged  to  enter,  clear,  or  pay  duties  in 
another."  His  violation  of  this  clause  is  positively  sub- 
lime. He  has  already  blockaded  the  ports  and  harbors 
of  twelve  sovereign  States,  and  caused  vessels  bound  to 
them,  to  change  their  course  and  enter  into  the  ports  of 
other  State*.     "  No  new  State  shall  be  formed  or  erected 


STATE   RIGHTS   OVERTHROWN.  159 

within  the  jurisdiction  of  any  other  State  ;  nor  any  State 
be  formed  by  the  junction  of  two  more  States,  or  parts 
of  States,  without  the  consent  of  the  Legislatures  of  the 
States  concerned,  as  well  as  of  the  Congress,"  reads  the 
noble  treaty  :  but  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  Government,  with- 
out the  consent  of  any  Legislature,  have  endeavored  to 
erect  a  new  State  out  of  the  disloyal  counties  of  Western 
Virginia,  and  are  now  laboring  to  "  form  a  junction  "  of 
the  counties  of  Northumberland  and  Accomac,  Va.,  with 
the  State  of  Delaware.  The  Constitution  provides,  that 
"  the  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the 
privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several 
States."  But  to  be  a  citizen  of  a  Southern  State,  with- 
out being  a  sworn  traitor  to  birth-right,  is  a  sufficient 
cause  for  imprisonment  and  confiscation  of  property,  at 
the  North.  The  war-making  power  was  vested  in  Con- 
gress only,  yet,  without  its  sanction,  or  any  other  legal 
authority  whatever,  Mr.  Lincoln  made  war  upon  the  Con- 
federate States.  All  and  every  State  were  prohibited, 
without  the  consent  of  Congress,  from  engaging  in  war, 
unless  actually  invaded  or  in  imminent  danger.  But 
without  invasion,  or  danger  of  invasion,  he  induced  most 
of  the  States  to  make  war  upon  the  others.  The  power 
of,  or  right  in,  the  Federal  Government,  to  invade  or 
coerce  a  State,  was  refused  to  the  Constitution  by  those, 
the  work  of  whose  souls  it  was ;  yet  the  world  beholds 
to-day  the  strange  spectacle  of  fourteen  sovereignties 
invaded,  or  in  actual  danger  of  invasion.  An  army  of 
subjugation  is  upon  Virginia's  soil ;  the  tramp  of  the  op- 
pressor's Tjeel  is  heard  upon  an  inlet  of  North  Carolina  ; 
and  while  these  lines  are  writing,  the  roar  of  the  inva- 
der's cannon  calls  to  arms  the  sons  of  the  little  Spartan 
State  of  Jackson  and  Calhoun. 


1G0  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

In  Missouri,  unparalleled  outrages  were,  and  arc  still 
being  perpetrated.  The  dignity  of  the  Commomvealth 
was  grossly  insulted.  Her  people  were  stripped  of  their 
natural  rights  and  liberties.  The  solemn  enactments  of 
her  Legislature  were  nullified  and  ridiculed.  Ilcr  militia 
■was  disarmed,  persecuted,  and  arrested.  Her  commerce 
was  suppressed.  Her  newspapers  were  silenced.  Ilcr 
children  were  placed  under  the  espionage  of  unprinci- 
pled men,  and  handed  over  to  the  ruthless  rnercilessness 
of  an  armed  soldiery.  Ilcr  best  sons  were  iinprison\d — 
debarred  from  the  pleasures  of  home,  native  fiehls,  and 
the  sweet  wooings  of  Nature — without  crime  and  without 
warrant ;  and  unoffending  women  and  children  were 
barbarously  murdered,  or  shot  down  like  quarry,  in  her 
cities.  Finally,  the  State  was  declared  under  martial 
law! 

Passing  over  the  fields  laid  waste — the  towns  and  vil- 
lages razed  or  burned — the  property  stolen  or  destroyed 
— the  churches  desecrated  and  women  ravished,  in  Vir- 
ginia ;  we  come  to  Kentucky — a  State  claimed  to  be  still  in 
the  Union.  Unfortunately  for  this  chivalrous  Common- 
wealth, while  influenced  by  the  concerted  advice  of  timid 
men  and  false  teachers,  she  resolved  upon  being  an  im- 
possibility :  she  would  be  neutral,  that  she  might  impar- 
tially mediate  between  the  unnatural  belligerents.  But 
the  advocates  of  neutrality  were  to  her,  what  iEschines 
was  to  Athens — foxes  in  the  habiliments  of  lambs.  He 
was  secretly  in  league  with  Philip  ;  they  were  secretly 
in  league  with  Abraham.  They  promised  fair  things — 
they  used  specious  arguments — they  glozcd  like  the  scr-' 
pent,  and  like  the  serpent  they  betrayed.  Under  the 
plea  of  self-protection,  they  had  arms  surreptitiously 
placed  in  the  hands  of  traitors  to  be  used  against  neigh- 


FREEDOM   MUZZLED.  1G1 

bors  and  fellow-men.  Growing  bold  with  temporary  suc- 
cess, they  had  paid  mercenaries  introduced  into,  and 
Federal  camps  established  upon,  the  soil  of  their  own 
State;  the  neck  of  which,  by  a  desperate  and  cunning 
stroke,  they  endeavored  to  place  in  the  mouth  of  the 
wolf.  But  the  people  at  length  awoke  and  found  that 
they  were  entrapped.  They  beheld  their  Legislature 
partly  venal,  partly  treacherous,  and  partly  intimidated 
by  military  bayonets.  They  saw  that  the  independent 
press  of  their  State  was  either  muzzled  or  silenced. 
They  witnessed  loyal  citizens  hunted  like  deer  or  wild 
fowl,  and  compelled  to  seek  an  asylum  of  safety  in  exile. 
They  heard  of  the  arrest  at  the  hour  of  midnight  of 
eminent  and  patriotic  statesmen* — men  who  were  vene- 

*  From  a  newspaper,  in  the  interest  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  Cincinnati 
Commercial,  -^e  gather  the  following:  "Colonel  Connell  and  other 
officers  visited  Judge  Jackson — one  of  the  bitterest  secessioni.-ts  in 
Knox  county,  Ky.  He  is  wealthy  and  influential,  and  distinguished 
himself  recently  by  hospitality  to  Zollicoffcr  and  his  officers,  but  de- 
clined to  call  upon  the  Federal  officers.  Col.  Connell  and  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Spears,  of  the  First  (Federal)  Tennessee  Regiment,  concluded 
to  visit  him.  They  called  at  night,  and  the  family,  supposing  they 
came  to  arrest  the  Judge,  were  much  distressed.  *  *  *  *  After 
fumbling  about  the  house  for  some  time  a  member  of  the  family  found 
a  Bible,  and  the  oath  was  administered  with  threatening  empba 
Jackson.  The  Judge  was  required  to  place  his  hand  on  the  Bible, 
and  Spears  dictated  to  him  the  extremest  minutiic  of  an  oath,  which 
covered  the  ground  entirely,  and  closed  by  exclaiming:  '  And  so,  in 
the  name  of  Almighty  God,  you  do  solemnly  swear,  as  you  hope  for 
salvation,  that  you  will  true  allegiance  bear  to  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  without  equivocation  or  mental  reservation.'  When  the 
Judge  responded  affirmatively,  Spears  ordered  him  to  kiss  the  Bible. 
The  former  demurred  that  the  oath  was  not  administered  in  Kentucky 
in  that  way.  Spears  replied  he  '  didn't  care  a  g — d  d — n  what  they 
did  in  Kentucky,  the  Bible  must  be  kissed,'  and  it  vrn 

And  this  but  a  single  instance,  in  illustration  of  a  general  and  vul- 
gar tyranny. 

11 


1G2  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

nble  from  age,  and  distinguished  as  public  servants 
during  an  ordinary  lifetime  ;  but  whose  hands  were  now 
pinioned  before  them,  like  criminals  of  ages  long  past, 
and  carried  captive  to  a  military  prison  in  New  York, 
one  thousand  miles  from  their  homes  !  But  there  is  a 
limit  to  endurance.  Young  Kentucky  took  fire  and  re- 
volted ;  and  that  unfortunate  State  is  now  precipitated, 
through  the  machinations  and  usurpations  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, into  a  bloody  revolution,  likely  to  be  unequalled, 
perhaps,  but  by  one  terrible  exception,  in  the  annals  of 
history. 

In  Maryland — unhappy  Maryland — his  crimes  have 
been  still  more  enormous.  There,  his  uniformed  ruffians, 
in  the  very  dawn  of  the  contest,  shot  down  harmless  and 
defenceless  spectators.  He  had  the  municipal  govern- 
ment of  the  city  of  Baltimore  subverted.  He  had  the 
mayor  stripped  of  his  legal  authority.  He  had  the  chief 
of  police,  Marshal  Kane,  arrested  and  imprisoned.  He 
had  the  board  of  police  commissioners  abolished,  and  the 
old  police  force  substituted  by  a  corps  of  men,  many  of 
whose  portraits  had  previously  been  ornaments  in  "the 
rogues'  gallery."  These  base  hirelings,  without  warrant 
or  other  judicial  sanction,  invaded  the  sanctuaries  of 
private  dwellings,  seized  private  papers,  carried  away 
private  property,  and  arrested  inoffensive  men.  They 
made  war  upon  the  texture  of  ladies'  dresses  and  chil- 
dren's clothes,  when  their  colors  approximated  to  those 
of  the  Confederate  flag.  The  people  were  disarmed. 
The  State  was  garrisoned  by  a  Federal  force  of  between 
thirty-five  and  forty  thousand  men,  in  three  divisions, 
respectively  commanded  by  Generals  Banks,  Sickles,  and 
Dix. 

Nathaniel  P.  Banks,  of  Massachusetts,  is  a  man  whose 


BANKS,    SICKLES   AND   DIX.  163 

political  life  commenced  as  a  democrat,  but  being  gov- 
erned by  a  sordid  ambition,  he  soon  became  wearied  of 
laboring  with  an  unprofitable  minority,  and  veered  with 
every  change  of  the  popular  compass,  until  he  was  made 
a  general  of  division  by  President  Lincoln.  Daniel  E. 
Sickles,  of  New  York,  is  a  person  of  yet  more  unen- 
viable fame.  In  youth  he  was  the  favored  pensioner  of 
a  notorious  and  dashing  harlot;  in  manhood,  for  per- 
sonal preferment,  he  pandered — infamously  on  his  part, 
and  dishonorably  on  the  part  of  his  wife — to  the  de- 
praved appetites  of  men  in  high  places  ;  and  to  this  he 
afterwards  added  a  premeditated,  cold-blooded,  and  cal- 
culating assassination.  John  A.  Dix  has  had  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  tolerable  education  and  good  social  inter- 
course ;  but  Nature  made  him  hollow-hearted,  cunning, 
selfish,  parsimonious,  ungenerous,  ungrateful,  and  un- 
principled. His  life-Odyssey  has  been  that  of  a  place- 
hunter.  In  1848,  he  deserted  the  Democratic  party, 
and,  by  rebellion,  helped  to  bring  upon  it  disaster  and 
defeat.  Next,  he  professed  penitence,  and  was  once 
more  received  into  its  folds  ;  and  now  we  find  him  allied 
to  his  hereditary  political  foes,  an  avenging  scourge  in 
the  service  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

The  wrongs  inflicted  upon  a  peculiarly  sensitive  and 
high-spirited  people,  by  a  ribald  and  undisciplined  sol- 
diery, so  officered,  may  be  more  easily  conceived  than 
described.*      They   arc    subjected   daily   to    insult   and 

*  Dr.  William  Howard  Russell,  special  correspondent  of  the  London 
Times,  in  one  of  his  recent  letters  to  that  -world-renowned  journal, 
says:  "Let  the  members  of  the  English  club  picture  such  a  scene  as 
this.  A  body  of  men  in  plain  clothes  march  up  to  the  steps,  forbid 
any  one  to  leave  the  house,  place  guards  in  the  hall,  take  the  keys  out 


161  CAUSE   AND    CONTRAST. 

abuse — to  rapine  and  murder.  Many  of  the  most  opu- 
lent and  estimable  sons  of  Maryland,  upon  mere  suspi- 
cion, or  to  gratify  private  malice,  have  been  torn  from 
their  families,  and  consigned  to  loathsome  dungeons. 
The  writ  of  Habeas  Cbrput  has  been  suspended  in  their 
midst,  and  the  courts  rendered  powerless  to  protect 
them.  The  poor  of  Baltimore  have  been  deprived  of 
the  daily  rations,  supplied  to  them  by  the  Christian 
munificence  of  their  fellow-citizen,  Ross  Winans,  who 
was  rewarded  for  his  charity,  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  with  a 
cell  in  a  military  fortress.  General  Dix  has  leveled  his 
cannon  at  the  devoted  city,  from  forts,  camps,  and  en- 
trenchments, with  the  promise  to  lay  it  into  ashes  in 
Case  of  an  attack  being  made  upon  him  by  the  Con- 
federates. During  the  sitting  of  the  State  Convention, 
fearful  that  it  might  pass  an  ordinance  of  secession,  he 
watched  its  proceedings  like  a  martinet,  and,  with  the 
clangor  of  surrounding  arms,  intimidated  its  members; 
as  the  notorious  Major  Sirr  sought  to  intimidate  the 
celebrated  Celtic  advocate,  while  defending  one  of  "the 
United  Irishmen."  Finally,  he  had  the  members  of  the 
State  Legislature,  supposed  to  be  loyal  to  the  South, 


of  the  doors,  proceed  to  tear  up  the  floors,  to  disturb  the  cellars  and 
throw  over  the  coals — refuse  to  show  any  warrant  to  any  of  the  mem- 
hen,  and  merely  state  that  they  are  looking  for  concealed  arms  by 
authority  of  the  marshal,  and  then  leave  as  they  came,  without  the 
production  of  warrant,  or  showing  in  dress,  uniform  or  badge,  that 
they  are  really  constables,  or  employed  by  any  authority  whatever. 
And  y<'t  this  is  what  took  place  at  the  Maryland  Clab  In  Baltimore  tho 
day  of  my  arrival — a  club  of  the  most  respectable  gentlemen  in  the 
Btate — without  a  word  of  excuse,  explanation  or  apology.  It  is  not 
perverting  hospitality,  nor  is  it  hostility  to  republican  institutions,  to 
condemn  such  acts  as  these." 


MELANCHOLY.  165 

banished  or  imprisoned,  so  a3  to  prevent  the  meeting  of 
that  representative  body.* 

Thus  was  every  vestige  of  liberty  and  security  to  the 
citizen  overthrown  —  thus  were  municipal  rights  can- 
celled and  destroyed — and  thus  was  State  sovereignty 
obliterated  by  Abraham  Lincoln — a  man  whose  sworn 
obligations  were,  to  protect  and  preserve  each  and  all — 
a  man  who,  wert  it  not  beneath  the  dignity  of  history, 
one  might,  in  the  language  of  Curran,  brand  as  "  the 
perjurer  of  an  hundred  oaths,"  who  blasts  the  memory 
of  the  dead,  blights  the  hopes  of  the  living,  and  mea- 
sures his  greatness  upon  the  ruin  of  his  country  and  the 
graves  of  his  victims. 

But  the  melancholy  feature  of  this  picture  is  in  the 
singular  attitude  assumed  by  the  people  of  the  North. 
It  has  been  severely  said  of  the  Scotch,  that  they  sold 
their  king  and  country  for  a  pittance,  which  amounted 
but  to  four  pence  a  head,  for  each  of  their  population. 
If  this  were  truth,  and  not  fiction,  surely  the  conduct  of 
our  present  adversaries  would  put  the  disgraceful  trans- 
action in  the  shade  ;  for  in  forfeiting  their  liberties,  they 
have  gained  nothing  and  lost  every  thing.  Accustomed 
to  decry  and  defame  all  other  governments  but  their 
own  —  accustomed  to  weep  over  the  fate  of  Greece, 
Poland,  and  Hungary — accustomed  to  espouse  the  cause 


*  No  wonder,  then,  that  Lord  Lyons,  H.  B.  Majesty's  Minister  at 
Washington,  in  a  dispatch  to  William    If.  Seward,  should  ha 

terized  the  Liooolo  GrOYcnunenf  u  ■  "despotic  and  arbitrary  powor," 
which  "refused  to  pay  obedience  to  the  writ  of  habtat  eorput,"  and 

the  "irregular  proceedings"  of  which  arc  "contrary  to  the  maxims 
of  the  United  States."  Indeed,  the  only  wonder  is,  that  wretched 
government  has  not  earned  for  itself  the  contempt  of  all  civilized 
mankind. 


166  CAUSE    AND    CONTRA 

of  L  unbardy  Mid  Venetia  against  Austria,  the  cause  of 

Papal  States  against  the  Pope  —  they  have  \ 
thousands,  reckoned  by  hundreds,  of  men,  and  millions 
of  money,  to  support  a  despotism,  compared  with  which, 
those  of  King  Bomba  ami  Francis  Joseph  were  balm; 
in  order  to  crush  out  a  people  who  keep  the  vestal  flame 
alive,  kindled  by  Washington  and  Jefferson! 

"  There  is  the  moral  of  all  human  tales; 
'Tis  but  the  same  rehearsal  of  the  | 
First  Freedom,  aod  then  Qlory — when  thai  fails, 

Wealth,  vice,  corruption, — barbarism  at  last. 
Ami  History,  with  all  her  volumes  vast, 
Hath  but  one  page." 

Justice  may  be  compatible  with  Monarchy,  but  never 
With  Tyranny.  The  tyrant  feels  that  Justice  can  al- 
ways  be  disputed  by  Force,  and  he  relies  upon  the  power 
of  the  latter  to  wring  submission  from  weakness.  The 
Northern  Government  felt  that  justice  and  right  were 
on  the  side  of  the  South,  but,  in  the  consciousness  of 
possessing  numbers,  brute  force,  an  organized  army  and 
navy,  bullion  and  established  authority,  it  eschewed  these 
facts.  Secession,  indeed,  was  revolution  ;  but  it  was 
unlike  any  other  revolution  of  history;  it  was  a  revolu- 
tion of  opinion,  not  tho  work  of  an  individual  or  of  a 
political  party,  but  the  natural  result  and  spontaneous 
desire  of  a  magnanimous  people ;  it  was  a  revolution 
without  a  leader,  yet  a  revolution  in  which  all  men  were 
leaders — rendering  it  impossible  to  Sacrifice  any  one  man 
for  an  assumed  political  crime,  where  all  men  were  alike 
criminal  ;  it  was  born  of  homogeneous  sentiments,  and 
designed  as  a  resisting  barrier  of  ancient  rights  and 
habits,  against  the  contagious  encroachments  and  ag- 
gression  of    new   modes  of    thought   in    heterogeneous 


BRUTAL   AND   HUMAN   GOVERNMENTS.  167 

forces ;  and  the  height  of  its  Christian  ambition  was  to 
be  bloodless.  The  South  supplicated  the  North  for 
peace — to  borrow  the  language  of  Ariosto — in  words 
"  which  might  for  pity  stop  the  passing  sun."  Past 
memories  were  invoked  by  the  former  ;  she  appealed  to 
reason ;  she  argued  that  a  Union  not  founded  upon 
principles  of  mutual  rectitude  and  benevolence,  and  not 
cemented  by  bonds  of  love,  was  unworthy  of  the  name 
and  could  not  stand ;  yet,  upon  the  ruins  of  the  struc- 
ture, men  of  a  common  lineage,  a  common  tongue,  and  a 
common  heritage  of  historic  patriotism,  might  still  meet 
upon  terms  of  kindliness  and  amity,  and  pursue,  albeit 
by  two  different  paths,  a  common  career  toward  a  des- 
tiny of  greatness  and  splendor.  But  all  this  moderation 
and  good  faith  were  answered  by  threats  and  execrations  : 
the  North  resolved  upon  a  policy  of  blood  and  carnage — 
a  policy  beneath  the  social  economy  of  animal  instinct, 
and,  therefore,  unworthy  of  being  termed  brutal.  For 
he  who  will  enter  some  fine  zoological  garden — who  will 
mark  the  conduct  and  intercourse  of  the  varied  creatures 
congregated  there  together — study  their  leagues  of  ten- 
der and  generous  friendships — see  how  they  accommo- 
date themselves  to  the  circumstances  of  their  new  con- 
dition— and  then  compare  their  virtuous  alliance  with 
the  barbarous  war-fury  of  the  North,  will  hesitate  to 
rank  the  human  with  the  brutal  government.  We  have 
seen  children  at  a  menagerie,  cultivate  with  crackers 
and  sweetmeats  the  friendship  of  grizzly  bears;  but  the 
generous  leniency  of  the  South  served  only  to  lash  the 
North  into  savage  blood-thirstiness.  And  surely  the 
sociological  machinery  whereby  Nature  regulates  the 
harmony  of  Barnum's  "happy  family,"'  \-  higher  in 
the  scale  of  moral  self-government,  than  that  by  which 


1C8  1SB    AND    CONTRAST. 

the  people  of  the  latter  section  seek  to  force  the  former 
into  Babmiaaion — the  boom  of  the  cannon,  the  click  of 
the  rifle,  and  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  But  the  con- 
trast  does  not  cease  here.  The  lordly  lion  will  roar 
when  in  quest  of  prey;  the  rattle-snake  will  warn  its 
victim  before  it  poisons;  man  alone  assassinates;  and 
the  North  endeavored  to  lull  the  South  into  a  slumber 
of  confidence,  with  the  intention  of  then  strangling  her. 


XVII. 

Soon  after  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  the 
organization  of  his  administration,  the  Confederate  Gov- 
ernment deputed  an  embassy  of  three  commissioners  to 
Washington,  authorized  to  negotiate  for  the  removal  of 
the  Federal  garrisons  from  fortresses  Pickens  and  Sum- 
ter. Their  mission  was  friendly,  humane,  ami  amicable; 
they  were  clothed  with  power,  by  the  seven  seceded 
States,  to  form  a  new  alliance  with  what  remained  of  the 
United  States  —  directed  to  sacrifice  every  thing  but 
honor  and  independence,  in  order  to  avoid  the  horrors  of 
civil  war,  prevent  the  shedding  of  fraternal  gore,  and 
perpetuate  the  blessings  of  amity  to  the  whole  continent. 
In  the  discharge  of  this  sacred  and  philanthropic  duty, 
they  promptly  addressed  a  communication,  which  ex- 
plained the  functions  of  the  embassy  and  its  purposes, 
to  the  Federal  Secretary  of  State,  William  II.  Seward. 

Now,  this  professional  politician  is  to  diplomacy,  what 
Ahmad  Khamakin,  the  arch-thief  of  the  Oriental  tale — 


SEWARD   AND   BUCHANAN.  169 

who  could  break  through  the  outer  wall,  scale  the  inner 
one,  and  steal  Kohl  from  the  eye  of  the  sleeper — was  to 
burglary.  He  declined  to  return  an  official  answer  to 
the  communication  of  the  Confederate  commissioners ; 
because,  as  he  alleged,  the  political  party  which  elevated 
him  to  power  (upon  the  ruins  of  a  broken  Constitution 
and  dismembered  country),  regarded  them  as  "rebels," 
and  to  so  treat  with  them  might  then  seriously  embarrass 
the  administration  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  His  public  policy 
was  always  founded  upon  the  philosophy  of  example, 
from  which  he  did  not  now  depart  in  resorting  to  du- 
plicity— he  found  an  inglorious  precedent  in  two  strokes 
of  dishonest  artfulness,  practised  during  the  last  days 
of  President  Buchanan's  administration.  Like  Seward, 
Buchanan's  life  is  but  the  story  of  an  office-seeker,  grow- 
ing rich  in  his  vocation,  and  finally  raised  to  the  highest 
civic  honors,  through  Southern  patronage.  Politicians 
are  seldom  grateful,  and  he  proved  no  exception  to  the 
rule.  Like  the  traitor  son  of  Carioth,  he  sought  to 
reward  his  benefactors  by  betrayal.  "When  the  State  of 
South  Carolina  seceded,  her  authorities  resolved  to  take 
possession  of  the  forts  in  Charleston  harbor.  To  pre- 
vent this  and  gain  time,  he  promised  to  negotiate — 
promised  that  the  existing  status  of  those  fortifications 
should  not  be  disturbed;  yet  he  caused  Major  Ander- 
son, in  the  dead  hour  of  night,  to  steal  his  men  out  of 
Fort  Moultrie  into  Fort  Sumter  —  spiking  the  cannon, 
burning  the  gun  carriages,  and  destroying,  generally, 
the  public  property  in  the  former  fortress,  ere  it  was 
deserted*  From  this  moment  forward,  Mr.  Buchanan's 
career  became  more  and  more  unconstitutional  and  un- 
American.  Many  of  his  ablest  advisors  were  constrained 
to  withdraw  from  his  cabinet;  amongst  them,  John  B. 


170  OAUS1    AND    CONTRAST. 

Floyd,  Secretary  of  War.  To  fill  his  place,  Buchanan 
selected  Joseph  Holt,  a  man  born  upon  Southern  soil, 

but  to  the  South  what  Benedict  Arnold  was  to  the 
Revolution.  When  the  position  of  the  garrison  in  Fort 
Sumter  became  untenable,  he  and  his  master  vainly  re- 
solved upon  secretly  reinforcing  it.  This  resolution  was 
not  only  skilfully  concealed  from  other  members  <>['  the 
cabinet,  but  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior — Hon.  Jacob 
Thompson — was  positively  assured  that  no  such  attempt 
would  be  made  without  his  knowledge.  In  a  few  days, 
however,  after  the  receipt  of  such  a  pledge,  and  early  in 
the  month  of  January,  he  learned  from  the  newspapers 
that  a  steamship  called  "The  Star  of  the  West,"  with 
provisions,  munitions  of  war,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty 
armed  men  on  board,  had  been  dispatched  from  the 
harbor  of  New  York  upon  so  infamous  a  mission  ! 

Although  both  of  these  fraudulent  measures  turned 
out  to  be  miserable  abortions,  they  were  accepted  as 
sufficient  precedents  to  guide  and  shape  the  policy  of  Mr. 
Seward.  But  while  declining  to  respond  to  the  Southern 
embassy,  like  his  predecessors,  he  affected  great  depres- 
sion of  spirits  in  private  circles,  and  whispered  that  he 
completely  inclined  to  accede,  in  due  time,  to  their 
wishes.  In  a  conversation  of  this  character,  with  Jus- 
tice Nelson,  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  he 
pitifully  enlarged  upon  his  embarrassments,  but  asserted 
his  determination  to  save  the  sections  from  an  armed 
collision.  The  generous  and  sincere  arc  seldom  incredu- 
lous or  suspicious,  and  moved  by  these  representations, 
the  former  induced  one  of  his  colleagues  upon  the 
bench — Justice  John  A.  Campbell — to  accompany  him 
upon  a  visit  to  the  latter.  The  meeting  took  place — the 
three  alone  were  present.     Mr.  Seward's  "depression" 


REYNARD   THE   FOX.  171 

and  oppression,  arising  from  the  fact  that  the  Southern 
Commissioners  pressed  him  for  a  reply  to  their  message, 
were  made  painfully  manifest.  He  gave  his  visitors  the 
most  solemn  and  positive  assurances  that  his  disposition 
"was  entirely  pacific.  He  told  them  that  there  would  he 
no  attempt  made  to  reinforce  Fort  Pickens.  He  gave 
them  to  understand  that  in  five  days'  time  the  Federal 
troops  would  he  removed  from  Fort  Sumter.  Judge 
Campbell,  at  the  time,  held  in  his  hand  a  draft  of  a 
letter  which  he  proposed  addressing  to  President  Davis, 
at  Montgomery :  "  before  that  letter  reaches  its  desti- 
nation," observed  the  veracious  Seward,  "Sumter  will 
have  been  evacuated."  This  was  on  the  15th  of  March; 
and  with  such  gratifying  assurances,  the  humane  and 
learned  Judge  became  a  voluntary  intermediary.  He 
hastened  to  the  room  of  one  of  the  Commissioners — 
Judge  Crawford — and  communicated  to  him  the  happy 
intelligence.  The  cheering  news  soon  ran  from  lip  to 
lip,  and  every  face  in  Washington  beamed  with  gladness 
and  fresh  hopes. 

But  the  five  days  passed,  and  Sumter  was  not  evacu- 
ated ;  while  the  officer  in  command  was  making  repairs 
and  putting  it  in  a  condition  of  aggression  and  defence. 
The  same  intermediary  called  again  upon  the  Secretary 
of  State,  and  the  latter  reiterated  his  former  assurances. 
These  Avcre  communicated  at  once  to  the  Embassy — to 
President  Davis ;  to  Governor  Pickens,  of  S.  C. ;  and 
to  General  Beauregard.  To  rock  the  South  into  a  more 
perfect  sleep  of  security,  Colonel  Lamon — an  agent  of 
the  Lincoln  Government — was  sent  to  Charleston.  He 
informed  Governor  Pickens  that  he  was  authorised  to 
make  arrangements  for  the  withdrawal  of  the  Federal 
troops  from  Sumter,  and  proposed  a  vessel  of  war  as  the 


178  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

best  means  of  effecting  this;  which  was,  of  course,  very 
properly  declined.  Another  confidential  agent  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's,  one  Fox,  was  soon  afterwards  dispatched  to 
the  same  c ity.     Be  r<  I  permission  to  visit   Fort 

Snmter,  solemnly  asseverating  that  his  mission  was 
entirely  pacific ;  and  through  the  intervention  of  a  gal- 
lant naval  officer,  Captain  Ilartstene,  his  wish  was  coin- 
plied  with.  But  Fox  shamelessly  violated  his  faith,  and 
reported  to  Maj  >r  Anderson  a  plan  agreed  upon  by  the 
unscrupulous  Washington  Government,  for  the  forcible 
reinforcement  of  the  Fort ;  in  accordance  with  which,  ■ 
naval  fleet  was  being  manned,  provisioned  and  fitted  out 
in   the   harbor    of   New   York.      All    these    facts    having 

become  matter  of  newspaper  notoriety,  Judge  Campbell 
addressed  s  note,  on  the  Beventh  day  of  April,  to  Secre- 
tory Seward,  to  which  the  latter  laconically  replied: 
"Faith  as  to  BUMTBE  FULLY   KEPI — wait  and  ski:." 

And  he  imparted  similar  as-uranees  to   Mr.  Harvey,  DOW 

his  own  Minister  at  the   Court  of  Lisbon.     Finally,  a 

Mr.  Chew    and    a    Lieutenant    Talbot    were   sent    by  Mr. 

Lincoln  to  Governor   Pickens,  with  ■  paper  informing 

him  that  the  Fort  ihouid  be  supplied  and  reinforced  I 
This  was  the  consummation  of  governmental  perfidy,  per- 
haps unparalleled  in  history,  except  in  the  violation  of 
the  Treaty  of  Limerick  by  'William  of  Orange.  Justice 
Campbell  did  "wait  and  see  faith  as  to  Sumter "  so 
"fully  kept,"  that  on  the  13th  of  April — on  the  sixth 
day  after  Seward's  pledge   was   given — a  hostile  Federal 

fleet  menace  Charleston — ■causing  Confederate  guns  to 
open  fire  upon  the  Fortress,  and  compelling  its  com- 
mander to  surrender;  without  the  loss  of  a  single 
Confederate  life,  while  the  fleet  made  an  inglorious 
retreat. 


THE   NORTHERN   CRUSADE.  173 

But  thus,  by  the  deception,  duplicity,  Sejanus-faced, 
and  wicked  policy  of  President  Lincoln  and  William  II. 
Seward,  was  kindled  the  torch  of  discord  and  civil  war — 
the  lurid  glare  of  which  reddens  thousands  of  miles  to- 
day, and  arrays  in  deadly  fray  a  million  of  men. 

No  sooner  had  Sumter  fallen  than  the  authors  of  the 
war  raised  their  visors.  Lincoln  called  into  the  field 
seventy-five  thousand  men,  "to  crush  rebellion."  He 
sent  his  hireling  emissaries  all  over  the  North,  inciting 
the  people  to  madness — preaching  the  holiness  of  a  cru- 
sade against  the  South.  Public  meetings  were  convened 
in  villages,  towns,  and  cities,  at  all  and  each  of  which 
the  tocsin  of  war  was  sounded.  The  largest  of  these 
was  held  in  the  city  of  New  York — always  famous  for 
cheap  or  easily  improvised  pageants.  Heartless  dema- 
gogues, like  "Colonel"  John  Cochrane* — one  who* 
could  (as  he  really  did)  coolly  advocate,  in  a  laboriously 
written  speech,  his  own  election  to  Congress,  at  the 
very  moment  when  the  shroud  was  being  put  upon  the 
remains  of   his  deceased  parent — harangued   the   multi- 


*  In  a  speech  recently  delivered  by  this  officer,  he  is  reported  to 
have  said:  "Shall  we  not  seize  the  cotton  at  Beaufort,  the  munitions 
of  war?  And  if  you  would  seize  their  property,  open  their  ports,  and 
even  destroy  th'ir  lives,  I  ask  you  whether  yoa  would  not  u-e  their 
slaves?  whether  you  would  not  arm  their  slaves  [preat  applause],  and 
carry  them  in  battalions  against  their  masters?  [Renewed  and 
tumultuous  applause.]  If  necessary  to  save  this  Government,  I 
would  plunge  their  whole  country,  black  and  white,  in  one  indis- 
criminate sea  of  blood,  so  that  we  should,  in  the  end,  have  a  gov- 
ernment which  would  be  the  vicegerent  of  God."  "Col."  Cochrane 
is  nephew  to  Gerritt  Smith — one  of  the  bloodiest  of  abolitionists — 
and  certainly  not  unworthy  of  his  uncle's  adoration;  especially  as  the 
doctrines  propounded  above  have  been  fully  endorsed  ly  Simon 
Cameron,  United  States  Secretary  of  War. 


17  1  0AU6B    AND     CONTRAST. 

tode.  He  had  for  coadjutors  on  that  occasion,  other 
men,  whom,  to  describe,  -were  to  pollute  the  vocYbularj 
of  th<  Ei  gfish  tongae.  They  denounced  and  reviled  the 
i.  an<l  pledged  their  Bection  to  the  Bupport  of  their 
[dent.  Lincoln  Bnmmoned  his  obsequious  Congress; 
it  assembled;  stifled  free  discussion;  ignored  the  Con- 
stitution; voted  him  millions  of  money;  munitions  of 
•war;  and  placed  over  half  B  million  of  base  hirelings  at 
his  disposal.  For  weeks,  the  work  of  preparation  went 
bravely  on.  The  music  of  fife  and  drum  was  heard 
all  over  the  Northern  iasm  of  their 

people   was   rampant.      Their  forts,   their  guns,   their 
nals,   were  to  be  summarily  recovered  :    everything 
now  I  I  to  them  ;  the  South  could  claim  no  }>art  of 

that    public   property   which   was  held   in   OOmmon  by  all 

9  under  the  old  partnership.      Mr.  Lincoln  seized  upon  the 

mint,  upon    the  army  and   navy,  upon   the   fortifications, 

custom  houses,  and  light-]  npon  every  element  of 

power  within  his  reach  ;  and  in  the  vain  conceit  of  invin- 
cibility, he  promised  to  his  deluded  followers,  tin'  Bubju> 
gation  of  the  seceded  States.  He  called  upon  the  people 
of  the  North  to  uphold  his  banner;  they  obeyed  ;  sur- 
rendered their  liberties  without  murmur;  and  like  tigers, 
thirsted  for  the  blood  of  former  friends,  fellow-citizens, 
and  relations.  They  were  told  that  they  would  be  led 
by  "the  greatest  General  of  the  age — Winfield  Scott;" 
that  the  rebels  would  be  extirpated;  their  estates  and 
property  confiscated  ;  and  that  the  booty  should  reward 
Northern  valor.  Like  those  who,  in  a  darker  era  and  a 
better  cause,  followed  Peter  the  Hermit,  they  crowded  to 
the  Btandard  of  this  base,  unprincipled,  and  avaricious 
traitor — the  Wellington  of  the  "Old  Dominion,"  and 
to  her  what  the  Iron  Duke  was  to  Ireland — a  renegade 


SOUTHERN   ACQUISITIONS.  175 

and  traitor.  This  incarnate  personation  of  Vanity,  was 
born  and  educated  in  Virginia ;  and  the  old  cavalier 
State  heaped  upon  him  honor  after  honor,  in  return  for 
which  he  led  his  mercenary  hordes  to  desecrate  her  soil, 
and  strip  her  children  of  their  liberties ;  as  an  ingrate 
son  would  sell  his  mother's  chastity  into  the  polluted 
embraces  of  a  debaucher !  But  Nemesis  is  sometimes 
just ;  and  she  now  lashes  him  with  serpents  of  awak- 
ened Conscience,  in  defeat,  humiliation,  and  disgrace,  a 
wanderer  and  an  exile — the  victim  of  loathsome  diseases, 
while  the  worm  of  remorse,  like  the  vulture  of  Tityus, 
forever  gnaws  upon  his  cold  and  ungenial  heart. 

It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  glance  now  at  the  fruit 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's  and  his  advisers'  policy. 

When  Fort  Sumter  was  surrendered,  and  when  7ie 
issued  his  war  proclamation,  the  Southern  Confederacy 
was  composed  of  seven  sovereign  States  only.  But  that 
document  thrilled  through  the  Southern  heart — roused 
its  patriotic  emotions — and  quickened  into  armed  resist- 
ance, its  gallantry  and  chivalry.  The  Governors  of 
nearly  all  of  the  unscccded  slave  States,  responded  in 
terms  of  defiance  and  disgust,  to  the  demand  made  upon 
them  by  the  Northern  Secretary  of  War,  for  contingent 
troops.  Arkansas,  North  Carolina,  Virginia,  and  Ten- 
ee,  promptly  withdrew  from  the  Government  of  the 
invader  and  oppressor,  and  pitched  their  Mature  destinies 
with*  the   new   Republic.     The  gr  -ouri, 

in  the  very  teeth  of  outrage,  invasion,  and  military 
tyranny,  has  recently  emulated  their  heroic  example. 
And  Kentucky  has  resolved  not  "  to  lay  her  lovely 
forehead  in  the  dust:"  she  is  boldly,  fearlessly,  and 
rapidly  marching  in  the  same  congenial  directs 

But  notwithstanding  such  acquisitions,  immediate  or 


176  0AU8B    AND    CONTRAST. 

anticipated,   the    disparity   between    the   populations   of 
both  Bectiona  and  their  aggressive  resources,  was  remark- 
and  to  all  hut  the  brave  and  n  .  lisheartei 

North  boasted  of  a  population  of  twenty  millioi 
Bonis;  the  South  conld  not  number  ten  millions.  The 
North  had  a  floating  populace,  the  South  had  not.  In 
the  North  there  were  wandering  classes,  ever  ready  fb* 
wihl  or  lawless  adventure — desperate  persons,  whose 
principal  profession  was  crime.  There,  also,  the  great 
tide  of  European  immigration  settled;  and  the  great 
majority  of  immigrants  rapport  their  families  from  the 
i  of  their  daily  toil.  To  coerce  these  dependents 
into  military  servi  aceivable  and  reckless  artifices 

were  resorted  to.  General  enterprise,  ceased ;  public 
works  were  Btopped;  private  charities  were  suspended, 

or     forcibly     suppressed;     and     liberal     pro  made 

(which    were    never   fulfilled)    that    the    families    of   those 

who  enlisted,  and  were  needful,  should  be  plentifully  and 
gratuitou>ly  supported.  Accustomed  to  follow  the  hud, 
in  manya  well-fought  political  battle,  of  such  men  as  Ed- 
ward  Everest  and  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  the  people  now 

found  themselves  without  a  leader;  for  these  lenders,  and 
all  of  their  trading  class,  had,  strangely  enough,  become 
rabid  supporters  of  the  Lincoln  policy.  The  demo- 
cratic masses,  who  helped  to  support  upon  their  brawny 
shoulders  the  pillars  of  the  Union,  soon  found  themselves 
without  an  organ  of  opinion  ;  for  their  customary  news- 
papers were  overpowered  or  crushed  out  of  existence. 
The  Northern  President  and  his  Cabinet — their  itinerant 
rhetoricians  upon  the  rostrum — the  slavish  press  which 
Was  spared  from  persecution,  the  violence  of  mob-law, 
and  the  tortures  of  constrained  silence — and  ministers  of 
the  Gospel,  characteristically  raised  from  the  anvil  or  the 


PECULIAR   DELUSIONS.  177 

lapstone,  to  sacerdotal  dignity,  yet  ignorant  of  spiritual 
religion,  church  history,  and  scientific  theology — all 
these  forces,  like  Mexican  priests,  joined  in  an  harmo- 
nious psalm  of  blood-thirstiness,  preparatory  to  their  con- 
templated offering,  in  human  sacrifice  of  the  volunteer 
patriots  of  the  South  !  The  heterogeneous  elements  of  a 
conglomerated  society  were  invoked  t6  forget  former 
prejudices,  old  contentions,  and  present  animosities ;  and 
to  unite  in  one  grand  league  for  one  grand  purpose.  A 
political  party,  which  had  shamelessly  and  clandestinely 
labored  to  betray  our  country  during  its  second  war  with 
England ;  which  had  recklessly  and  persistently  sought 
to  bring  disgrace  and  defeat  upon  its  arms  in  the 
Mexican  war ;  now  prayed  democrats  to  drink  of  the 
cup  of  oblivion — to  make  war  upon  those  who  had  ever 
been  loyal,  even  at  the  expense  of  their  best  blood  and 
treasure — and  this  time,  to  associate  with  recreants  and 
fanatics,  in  a  crusade  for  the  honor,  forsooth  !  of  a  flag 
which  symbolized  their  nationality.  Irishmen  were  in- 
formed, by  those  who  had  strenuously  tried  to  disfran- 
chise them  ;  who  had  burned  their  churches ;  who  had 
derided  and  insulted  their  branch  of  the  human  race ; 
who  had  outraged  the  devotees  of  their  faith;  and  who, 
in  many  quarters,  had  laid  their  settlements  in  ashes 
and  ruin ;  that  this  civil  war  was  waged  to  give  them  a 
country,  to  perpetuate  their  political  freedom,  and  to 
secure  forever  their  personal  liberties.  Germans,  fresh 
from  the  thraldom  of  their  thirty  tyrants,  and  but  im- 
perfectly acquainted  with  our  language,  were  indoc- 
trinated into  a  belief,  that  they  were  called  upon  to 
fight  in  defence  of  the  privileges  for  which  they  had 
crossed  the  Atlantic — that  upon  their  success  in  the 
contest  rested  their  only  hopes  of  free  homesteads — and 
12 


1TV  0AU8E    AND    CONTRAST. 

that  by  the  abolition  of  Southern  slavery,  they  would 
1  ■•  the  possessors  <~'f  Southern  farms,  or  the  recipi 

of  Southern  wages.  In  this  manner — by  such  insinua- 
and  misrepresentations,  were  gross  dissimilarities 
reconciled — the  worst  passions  of  men  excited — their 
wild  aspirations  stimulated — and  their  cupidity  and  avarice 
tempted.  The 'more  effectually  to  delude  them,  they 
were  confidently  taught  that  the  North  need  show  but 
a  firm  and  united  front,  to  cause  the  South,  broken  and 
divided,  to  Buccumb;  and  that  even  if  it  came  to  blows, 
the  war  would  be  simply  "short,  Bharp,  and  decisive:" 
for  to  completely  subjugate  the  latter,  was  merely  a 
holiday  entertainment. 

Thus  was  created  an  agitation,  at  once  artificial  and 
fanatical,  by  means  of  which,  before  the  middle  of  dune, 
Mr.  Lincoln  found  himself  commander-in-chief  of  an 
arm}'  of  not  less  than  three  hundred  thousand  men  ;  the 
best    appointed    and    equipped,   it    was    boasted,   ever 

brought  into  the  field  of*  action.  Their  musket-,  their 
rifles,  their  revolvers,  and  their  artillery,  Were  of  the 
finest  quality  and  of  the  most  approved  inventions. 
They  had  all  accessories  of  convenience  and  advan- 
— the  greatest  commanders  in  the  world;  rail-ears; 
Bteam boats;  and  shipping,  for  transportation — the  best 
telescopes  and  the  most  wonderful  balloons,  for  purposes 
of  observation.  Their  cannon  was  so  long,  of  such  awful 
range  and  terrific  roar,  that,  like  the  magic  horn  of 
Astolpho,  it  would  put  the  enemy  to  flight,  in  confusion 
and  dismay.  And  as  to  the  physical  material  of  which 
the  "grand  army"  was  composed,  that,  of  course,  was 
unquestioned  and  unquestionable.  Although  it  was  bap- 
tized after  (he  grand  army  of  Napoleon  I.,  the  prow  — 
of  the  Gaul  could   not  be  compared  with   the  peculiar 


VAUNTS   AND   LESSONS.  179 

bravery  of  a  soldiery  -which  had  been  distinguished  as 
manufacturers  of  shoe  pegs,  cashing  machines,  apple 
peeling  machines,  patent  locks,  patent  churns,  and  other 
ingeniously  useful  devices  of  New  England  mechanism. 
Besides,  the  major  portion  of  them  belonged  to  the  home 
militia  and  excursion  target  companies,  of  the  North ; 
and  they  were  disciplined.  On  holidays,  they  made  a 
splendid  show  in  their  respective  cities ;  dressed  them- 
selves in  fancifully  variegated  regimentals ;  their  left 
feet  promptly  responding  to  the  "  hep  "  of  the  orderly 
sergeant.  They  went  through  the  formulas  of  sham 
battles,  and  "regulars"  could  have  done  no  more;  hence 
they  were  soldiers  and  invincible.  And  now  that  they 
were  to  meet  a  real  foe,  face  to  face,  the  fe,  f,  fo,  fum 
of  the  giant  in  the  nursery  tale,  could  not  equal  their 
sublimity  of  contempt  for  him.  Their  vaunts  were  heard 
over  Europe  and  America.  Rebellion  was  not  only  to 
be  suppressed  at  home,  but  ere  Lincolndom  would  put 
down  its  arms,  corpulent  and  "perfidious"  John  Bull 
should  be  honored  with  a  coat  of  tar  and  feathers,  after 
the  most  approved  Yankee  notion. 

But  the  race  is  not  always  to  the  swift,  nor  the  battle 
to  the  strong.  The  loudest  boaster  may  frequently  be 
made  to  bite  the  dust,  in  ignominy  and  defeat.  This 
was  the  lesson  which  David  taught  Goliah — which  Mil- 
tiades  inculcated  at  Marathon — which  Themistocles  en- 
forced in  the  bay  of  Salamifl — which  Packenham  learned 
at  New  Orleans — which  the  Swiss  imparted  to  Ch 
of  Burgundy — which  immortalizes  Cambus  Kenneth 
and  Bannockburn.  The  mercenaries  of  the  tyrant  have 
never  yet  hopelessly  conquered  the  soldiers  of  Justice — 
a  truth  which,  so  far,  has  been  fully  evinced  in  the  suc- 
cess of  our  arms. 


180  CAUSE   AND   CONTRAST. 

The  North,  however,  clamored  for  an  advance,  for  she 

had  Bet  her  heart  upon  a  great  success  with  which  to 

c  fading  fortunes.     She  demanded  that  a  tcrri- 

ble   hlow  should  be   inflicted,  and  that  the  overture  to 

extirpation  should  have  a  bloody  opening.     One  of  her 

1  ajar  heroes,  Gen.  Butler,  commanded  at  Fori 
Monroe;  and  in  obedience  to  the  prevailing  sentiment, 
he  ordered,  early  in  June,  Gen.   Pierce,  with  five  I 
incuts   numbering   four   thousand    men,    to   march   upon 

i  Bethel.  They  were  confronted  by  eleven  hun- 
dred Confederates  under  the  intrepid  Magruder,  who 
drove  them  back,  routed,  slaughtered,  and  decimated. 
They  left  upon  the  field  of  action  two  hundred  of  their 
companions  in  arms,  while  our  loss  was  bnt  one  killed 
and  three  wounded  !  This  waS  a  foretaste  of  the  hospi- 
tality with  which  invaders  and  marauders  were  to  be 
greeted  by  Southern  prowess.  But  those  who  held  the 
hounds  in  leash  were  not  contented— they  beat  their 
I  -ts,  like  furious  gorillas,  and  cried  out  for  revi 
The  contending  forces  met  again,  beneath  a  burning 
July  sun,  at  Bull  Run.  Gen.  Longstreets  brigade  of 
Confederates,  aided  by  the  N.  0.  Washington  Artillery, 
repulsed  a  force  of  Federals,  numbering  perhaps  three  to 
one.  The  drama  of  Bethel  was  ree'nacted ;  five  hundred 
of  the  enemy  were  put  hort  de  C  mbat ;  while  our  loss,  in 
killed  and  wounded,  did  not  exceed  eighty. 

Louder,  and  more  defiant  than  before,  now  roared 
the  bellicose  North.  Humiliation  and  defeat  had  not 
taught  her  wisdom.  Her  President  had  previously  given 
the  rebels  thirty  days  to   disperse  and  return    to    their 

s;  but  his  proclamation  was  derided  and  diso- 
beyed. Her  venal  and  subsidized  journals  demanded 
that    the    people    of   the    South  should    be    given   as    a 


WESTERN   CHINESE.  181 

retributive  breakfast,  to  satiate  the  revenge  of  her 
mercenaries  and  their  generals.  "On  to  Richmond" 
•was  their  favorite  watchword.  "The  greatest  Captain 
of  the  Age  "  was  ordered  to  put  his  invincible  corps  in 
motion ;  and  he  responded  that  he  was  ready  to  suppress 
secession — that  he  was  prepared  to  convince  the  world 
that  Washington  contained  "  a  Government " — and 
that,  like  an  immature  egg  in  the  palm  of  his  hand,  he 
had  "rebellion"  in  his  power.  The  whole  North  was 
full  of  unctuous  grace,  and  offered  thanks  to  its  peculiar 
God — the  golden  calf;  Puritan  and  Quaker  knelt  side 
by  side  in  prayer ;  and  rising,  sung  to  the  tunc  of  Old 
Hundred : 

"Woe!  Woe!  to  the  Rebels,"  etc. 

Gen.  Scott  having  matured  his  plan  of  battle,  ordered 
Gen.  McDowell,  at  the  head  of  fifty-five  thousand  men, 
to  advance  on  Manassas,  July  21st — three  days  after 
the  repulse  at  Bull  Run.  As  they  advanced,  the  gay 
uniforms  of  the  Federal  ranks,  their  streaming  colors 
and  bristling  bayonets,  added  strange  charms  to  the  pri- 
meval forests  of  Virginia.  Fair  dames ;  members  of 
Congress  ;  women  of  pleasure  ;  and  men  of  leisure,  all  in 
costly  and  rich  attire,  brought  up  the  rear  of  the  seem- 
ingly grand  holiday  procession.  In  show,  splendid  boast, 
and  dramatic  accessories,  it  was  no  mean  theatrical  rep- 
resentation of  the  army  of  Xerxes.  In  martial  strains 
the  noble  trumpet  resounded  in  front,  while  hearts  of 
roe,  in  serried  columns,  marched  behind,  chaunting: 

"Old  John  Brown  Uefl  a  moul'lcring  in  Lis  p- 
Tlnllcl uj.'ili.    Hallelujah, 
HftUelnjtJh,    Hallelujah, 
Old  John  Hi  >wn  lies  a  mouUering  in  his  grave, 

Hut  his  soul  is  marching  on." 


182  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

tiator  "Wilson,  of  Massachusetts,  was  among  the 
camp-followers  and  spectators.  He  commenced  life  a 
cobbler  by  trade;  he  afterwards  deserted  the  awl  and 
lapstone  for  the  profession  of  a  politician,  and  succeeded 
in  "making  money;"  with  a  portion  of  which  he  now 
patronized  the  Vieuvc  Clicquot,  Moct  and  Chandon,  Jules 
Mumm,  and  Charles  Hcidsick,  preparatory  to  his  giving 
a  great  festival  after  the  Federal  victory.  The  "grand 
army"  was  provided  with  every  means  that  Yankee 
ingenuity  could  devise  for  its  success,  with  bloodhounds  to 
discover  "the  rebels,"  and  thirty  thousand  handcuffs  to 
bind  them  when  captured.  So,  early  in  the  the  morning, 
ere  the  sun  could  have  sipped  the  dews  of  night,  Lin- 
colndom  commenced  the  attack — at  a  safe  and  distant 
range.  They  were  met  by  thirty-five  thousand  South- 
ern patriots,  defending  their  homes  and  freedom,  and 
commanded  by  Generals  Johnston  and  Beauregard — 
brave,  skillful  and  modest  officers.  As  our  soldiers 
retired  to  more  advantageous  grounds,  the  Federal  com- 
manders telegraphed  to  headquarters,  and  headquarters 
to  the  Atlantic  and  "Western  cities,  that  they  had 
achieved  a  signal  victory.  Men  propose,  but  God 
disposes ;  and  Senator  "Wilson,  who  had  never  dreamt 
even  of  defeat,  had  spread  upon  groaning  tables  his 
costly  dinner.  But  'twas  partaken  of  by  braver  men  than 
those  for  whom  it  was  designed.  The  wisest  of  Greeks 
once  told  the  wealthiest  of  Lydians,  that  a  people  with 
swords  in  their  hands,  would  take  his  gold ;  so,  on  this 
occasion,  Confederate  soldiers  dined  at  the  expense  of  a 
vaunting  enemy.  For  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
the  Federal  hosts  were  in  full  flight — retreating  in  such 
confusion  as  army  never  fled  before.  It  was  the  most 
terrible  of  recorded  panics.     Men  fell  down  from  sheer 


BATTLE   OF   MANASSAS.  183 

exhaustion  and  perished.  Others  were  trodden  to  death 
beneath  the  hooves  of  flying  horses,  or  crushed  under  the 
•wheels  of  wagons  and  ambulances.  Mr.  llussell,  cor- 
respondent of  the  London  Times,  an  eye-witness  of  the 
scene,  relates  that  the  current  of  advancing  and  re- 
treating Federal  soldiery  "  met  in  wild  disorder.  '  Turn 
back,  retreat !'  shouted  the  men  from  the  front, 
'  We're  whipped,  we're  whipped.'  They  cursed  and 
tugged  at  the  horses'  heads,  and  struggled  with  frenzy 
to  get  passed."  "Men,"  he  continued,  "literally 
screamed  with  terror  and  fright,  when  their  way  was 
blocked  up.  On  I  rode,  asking  all,  *  what  is  this  all 
about?'  and  now  and  then,  but  rarely,  receiving  the 
answer,  *  we're  .whipped '  or  'we're  repulsed.'  Faces 
black  and  dusty,  tongues  out  in  the  heat,  eyes  staring — 
it  was  a  most  wonderful  sight.     On  they  came  like  him 

"Who,  having  turned,  goes  on 

And  turns  no  more  bis  head, 
For  he  knoweth  that  a  fearful  fiend 

Doth  close  behind  him  tread." 

Some  of  the  Federal  fugitives  never  halted  until  they 
entered  the  city  of  Washington — thirty  miles  from  the 
scene  of  action.  Others  sought  shelter  and  protection  in 
the  woods,  and  were  afterwards  discovered  half  dead 
from  terror  and  starvation.  Many  retreated  on  the 
road  leading  to  Leesburg,  and  were  captured.  But  the 
main  body  scampered  in  the  direction  of  Arlington  and 
Alexandria,  having  over  five  thousand  of  their  comrades 
upon  the  field,  and  bearing  with  them  two  pieces  only  of 
the  splendid  artillery  with  which  they  advanced.  In 
addition  to  fifty-six  guns,  some  of  which  arc  of  the 
heaviest    calibre   and   longest    range,    twelve    thousand 


184  CAUSE    AND    CONTRA 

I  ».f  light  arms,  great  quantities   of  blankets  and 
ing,  medicine  chests,  provisions   and   munitions  of 

war.  sufficient  to  maintain  for  months  a  large  army,  fell 
into  "ur  hands — tho  princely  donation,  on  the  plains  of 
Manassas,  of  the  Northern  Sennacherib  to  Isra(  1. 

In    Missouri,  the  success   of  our   arms    was   no   less 
icious — there,  too,  Federalism  was  taught  that  the 

road  of  invasion  was  no  path  of  roses.  At  Oak  Hill, 
ten  miles  from  Springfield,  twelve  thousand  men,  com- 
manded by  Gen.  Lyon — a  cruel  and  remorseless  mon- 
ster, hut  a  zealous  and  energetic  officer — assailed  an  en- 
campment of  ten  thousand  Confederates  under  General 
McCulloch.     The  battle  raged  with   great  bravery  and 

ration  six-and-a-half  hours,  whgn  the  Federal 
forces  were  defeated,  with  a  loss  of  eight  hundred  killed, 
one  thousand  wounded,  three  hundred  prisoners,  six 
pieces  of  artillery,  and  several  hundred  stand  of  small 
arms  captured.     Amongst  the  slain  were  Gen.  LyOD  and 

il  of  his  prominent  officers.  Our  loss,  in  killed, 
wounded  and  missing,  was  ten  hundred  and  ninety-five! 
Next,  and  in  a  few  weeks  later,  General  Sterling  Price 
attacked    the   enemy — commanded   by  Col.  Mulligan,  an 

rable,  brave,  and  gallant  officer — in  his  fortifications 
at  Lexington,  Missouri,  and  after  a  continuous  assault  of 
fifty-two  hours,  with  a  loss  of  twenty-five  killed  and 
seventy-two  wounded  on  our  side,  caused  him  to  sur- 
render. "The  visible  fruits  of  this  victory" — to  quote 
the  language  of  General  Trice's  official  report — "were, 
about  3,500  prisoners,  among  whom  are  Colonels  Mulli- 
gan, Marshall,  Teabody,  White,  Grover,  Major  Van 
Horn,  and  118  other  commissioned  officers,  five  pieces  of 
artillery  and  two  mortars,  over  3,000  stand  of  infantry 
arms,  a  large  number  of  sabres,  about  750  horses,  many 


CONFEDERATE   SUCCESSES.  185 

sets  of  cavalry  equipments,  wagons,  teams,  ammunition, 
more  than  §100,000  worth  of  commissary  stores,  and  a 
large  amount  of  other  property.  In  addition  to  all  this, 
I  obtained  the  restoration  of  the  Great  Seal  of  the  State, 
of  the  public  records,  which  had  been  stolen  from  their 
proper  custodian,  and  about  §900,000  in  money,  of 
which  the  bank  of  this  place  had  been  robbed,  and  which 
I  have  caused  to  be  returned  to  it." 

Indeed,  so  great,  and  singularly  remarkable,  have  been 
the  almost  unbroken  chain  of  our  successes,  both  in 
skirmishes  and  general  engagements,  since  the  com- 
mencement of  this  (on  our  part)  unavoidable  war,  that 
a  mightier  arm  than  that  of  Mars,  would  seem  to  have 
volunteered  upon  our  side.  At  Mesilla,  in  Arizona,  Lt. 
Colonel  Baylor,  with  four  companies  of  Texan  recruits 
and  a  few  citizens — numbering  in  all  three  hundred 
men — defeated  eleven  companies  of  six  hundred  United 
States  regulars,  compelling  them  to  surrender  Fort  Fill- 
more, and  taking  possession  of  $  500,000  worth  of  pro- 
perty ;  at  Vienna,  Col.  Gregg's  South  Carolina  regiment 
and  a  company  of  Virginia  artillery,  routed  General 
Schenck's  brigade,  with  a  loss  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
men,  but  not  one  killed  or  wounded  on  our  side  ;  at 
Haynesville,  Colonel  Jackson,  with  two  regiment-,  kept 
a  comparatively  immense  army,  under  General  Patter- 
son, in  check;  at  Greenbrier  River,  with  a  loss  of  nine 
on  our  side,  General  II.  R.  Jackson  defeated  a  greatly 
superior  force  of  the  enemy  under  General  Reynolds; 
at  Chicamacomico,  a  Georgia  regiment,  commanded  by 
Colonel  Wright,  chased  an  Indiana  regiment  twenty 
miles,  and  captured  about  forty  prisoners;  in  the  1 'asses 
of  the  Mississippi,  Commodore  HollinS,  with  a  tk  Mos- 
quito"  fleet,  put  to  flight  a  Federal  blockading  armada; 


18G  OAUSl     AND    CONTRAST. 

in    Carthage,   Missouri,   General    Price    defeated,   with 

heavy  1"-     5        I'a  army;  at  Lewinsville,  several  regi- 
ments of  the  enemy  upon  reconnoissanc  surprised 
by  Confederates;    at  Santa    Rosa,   General   Andei 
with  five  hundred  Confederates,  attacked  Colonel  AV  il- 

son — in  days  gone  by,  a  kind  of  professional  highway- 
man, or  midnight  baggage-smasher — in  his  encampment, 

put  his  whole  command  to  Bight,  burned  the  camp,  and 
caused  the  distinguished  Wilson  to  fly  in  an  apparel  ele- 
gant as  that  which  Adam  wore  before  the  Fall  ;  recently 
the  contending  forces  met  on  cijual  terms  at  Belmont, 
about  10,000  men  on  cither  side,  yet  the  enemy  were 
driven  back  with  terrible  slaughter  and  decimation  ;  at 
1  3  Lanes,  Colonel  Tyler's  7th  Ohio  regiment  was 
"cut  to  pieces"  by  a  portion  of  General  Floyd's  com- 
mand ;  at  Hawk's  Nest,  one  hundred  Confederates  put 
to  flight  nearly  six  hundred  Federals,  with  but  four  killed 
and  wounded  on  our  side;  at  Guyandottc,  Colonel  Clark- 
son,  with  a  squadron  of  cavalry,  dashed  upon  the  enemy, 
killed  sixty  and  took  one  hundred  and  four  prisoners, 
without  sufl'ering  on  his  side  the  loss  of  a  single  soul  : 
at  Carnifax  Ferry,  General  Floyd,  with  seventeen  hun- 
dred Southerners,  repulsed  over  lour  thousand  Federals, 
under  General  Rosencranz,  who  attempted  to  drive  us 
from  our  position — the  latter  losing  not  less  than  six 
hundred,  while  our  loss  was  but  trifling;  and  finally,  at 
Leesburg,  the  13th,  17th,  and  19th  Mississippi  regi- 
ments, and  the  8th  Virginia  regiment,  numbering 
twenty-five  hundred  men  in  all,  met  the  Lull  and  20th 
Massachusetts  regiments,  the  42d  New  York  and  1st 
California,  and  portions  of  the  1st  New  Jersey,  40th 
New  York,  3rd  Rhode  Island,  and  a  Pennsylvania  cav- 
alry— in   all,   more  than  four    thousand   men — defeated 


HEAVENLY   INTERPOSITION.  187 

them,  took  six  hundred  and  eighty  prisoners,  and  put 
nearly  fourteen  hundred  others  hors  de  combat ! 

In  all  this — aiding,  guiding,  protecting  us — the  Divine 
hand  of  Heavenly  interposition  has  been  manifested — 
the  God  of  men  and  nations  nerving  and  shielding  the 
ranks  of  the  just.  In  less  than  eight  months,  our  Confed- 
eracy has  had  accessions  of  five  sovereign  States;  embrac- 
ing millions  of  souls,  thousands  of  territorial  square  miles, 
and  inexhaustible  treasures  ;  and  ere  eight  months  more 
arc  passed,  three  other  States  will,  doubtless,  have  joined 
their  fortunes  to  the  Southern  Empire.  With  signal 
success,  the  enemy  has  been  met  at  almost  every  point ; 
his  ranks  broken ;  his  pride  humbled  with  the  dust ;  his 
vaunting  columns  routed  in  confusion  and  dismay ;  his 
malignity  despised,  derided,  and  defied ;  and  his  people 
brought  to  the  thresholds  of  poverty,  uncertainty,  and 
despair.  On  our  side,  there  are  unanimity,  power, 
patriotic  integrity  of  purpose,  patience  under  difficulties, 
resolution  to  conquer,  and  that  dignity  which  springs 
from  consciousness  of  strength.  On  his  side  are  divided 
counsels,  vacillation,  chicanery,  cowardice,  ignorant  num- 
bers, and  impotency  in  action.  We  have  Generals  of 
genius  and  ni Hilary  experience  ;  wise  and  patriotic  states- 
men ;  and  a  citizen  soldiery,  armed  to  maintain  their 
rights — defend  their  soil,  homes,  and  firesides.  Hit  Gen- 
erals are  charlatans,  pretenders,  speculators  ;  his  forces, 
composed  of  hungry  and  shivering  hirelings,  enlisted  to 
invade  the  sanctuaries  of  superiors,  and  compelled  to  do 
so  only  by  terror  of  starvation.  His  people  are  idle  and 
destitute,  ours  buoyant  and  prosperous.  While  W6  arc 
husbanding  our  resources,  he  is  barbarou-lv  squandering 
his.  Enterprise,  genius,  and  art,  are  impelled  to  move 
onward  here ;  with  him   they  arc  constrained  to  retro- 


1"^  CAISE    AND    CONTRA 

;uant.       He   -wears    the    armor    of 
Tyranny,  while  we  bear  the  Bcalea  of  Justice  and  wield 

word  of  Liberty.  Our  motives  are — to  prei 
honor,  freedom,  independence,  and  win  a  place  among 
the  family  of  nations;  his — to  subjugate,  chain,  and  rob 
us.  Our  acts,  in  this  war,  have  been  marked,  so  far,  by 
lcrwency,  humanity,  civilization,  and  Christianity;  while 
his  cruelties  and  fiendish  atrocities,  outwonder  the  devil- 
isms  of  fiction,  and  fix  a  deep  indentation  of  horror  and 
disgrace  upon  the  escutcheon  of  the  century.  And  if 
•we  have  erred,  our  sin  has  been  in  not  properly  appre- 
ciating the  nature  of  the  diabolical  foe  with  whom  wo 
have  had  to  contend.  Judging  him  by  our  own  subjective- 
ness  and  the  conduct  of  other  men,  when  in  our  power, 
after  the  battle  of  Manassas,  instead  of  laying  his  fields 
in  waste  and  giving  his  cities  to  the  flames,  we  spared 
him  and  returned  good  for  evil,  hoping  that  he  had 
learned  wisdom,  if  not  charity,  by  a  too  dearly  pur- 
chased experience.  But  were  we  right  in  bo  supposing? 
Were  we  wise  in  conceiving  that  a  foe,  who,  in  peace, 
had  been  the  prince  of  swindlers — who,  to  cheat  the 
public,  could  stoop  even  to  the  low  fraud  of  manufac- 
turing wooden  nutmegs — would  be  either  generous  or 
magnanimous  in  war'.''  Milton  and  Goethe  lived  before 
this  era,  and,  consequently,  Satan  and  Afephistopheles, 
arc  imperfect  impersonations  of  Evil — his  devilship  is 
here  incarnadined  :  and  as  the  mask  is  gradually  re- 
moved, men  avert  their  shuddering  glance,  from  his  face, 
as  if  withered  by  beholding  the  countenance  of  Eblis. 
lie  has  resorted  to  every  vile  device  and  stratagem, 
which  the  powers  of  darkness  could  suggest :  and  crimes 
which  tlic  Genius  of  Poetry  denied  to  the  dark  inven- 
tions of   "Wizard  and  Enchanter,  are  to  our  enemy  of 


THE  enemy's  barbarism.  189 

quick  conception  and  easy  delivery.  He  wages  a  relent- 
less war  upon  -women  and  children — robbing  the  widow 
of  her  mite  and  the  orphan  of  death's  legacy.  He  has 
put  a  blazing  torch  in  the  hand  of  incendiaries,  humbling 
temples  of  prayer  erected  in  praise  of  the  living  God, 
public  institutes,  and  dwellings  of  rich  and  lowly,  to  one 
mass  of  common  ruin.  He  has  proposed  the  arming  of 
servile  hands  for  purposes  of  murder  and  wholesale 
slaughter ;  and  with  this  view,  he  has  entered  into  al- 
liance with  a  semi-barbarous  colony.  While  our  prisons 
groan  with  his  captives — some  of  them  sick,  wounded, 
and  maimed — and  while  they  at  least  number  fi\;e  times 
as  many  as  those  of  our  men  in  his  hands,  he  is  not  only 
oblivious  to  the  confinement,  want,  sufferings,  anguish  of 
soul  and  body,  which  those  unfortunates  who  helped  to 
fight  his  battles  have  necessarily  to  undergo — refusing  to 
have,  in  accordance  with  the  usages  of  civilized  war,  any 
portion  of  them  exchanged  ;  but  he  proposes  to  massacre 
in  cold  blood,  the  crew  of  one  of  our  privateers,  thereby 
inaugurating  a  policy,  foreign  and  revolting  to  all  ex- 
cept savages,  and  forcing  our  Government  to  adopt  the 
law  of  Retaliation,  which,  however  revolting  to  the  sus- 
ceptibilities of  our  people,  must  be  inexorably  and  terribly 
enforced — no  matter  who  may  suffer  on  either  side,  or 
what  the  social  or  political  stations  of  sufferers.  Finally, 
and  to  crown  his  infamy,  he  has  inaugurated  a  crime 
against  mankind,  present  and  prospective,  by  undertak- 
ing to  perpetually  blockade  the  principal  inlets,  ports, 
and  harbors  of  the  South,  with  useless  and  rejected 
vessels  filled  with  stones  sunk  in  their  harbors;  and 
this  lie  terms,  in  his  satanic  vocabulary,  "the  stone 
blockade." 

And  yet,  the  successes  of  this  violent,  ferocious,  and 


100  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

inhuman  foe  have  been  few  and  paltry — so  few  that  they 
can  be  reckoned  upon  one's  fingers — so  paltry  as  not  to 
ar  romoved  from  the  ludicrous.  Those  which  lie 
achieved  at  Booncsville  and  Philippi,  would  not  re- 
dound to  the  glory  of  Lilliputians.  At  St.  George,  it 
is  true,  the  lamented  General  Garnett  fell;  ami  at  Rich 
Mountain,  thirteen  hundred  Federalists  defeated  two 
hundred  and  fifty  of  our  troops  and  took  Col.  Pegram 
prisoner.  A  powerful  fleet  attacked  and  Btormed  a  few 
of  our  sand  batteries  at  Ilatteras,  an  inlet  upon  the  i 
of  North  Carolina;  but  where,  however,  the  enemy  is 
welcome  to  remain,  so  long  as  hi--  treasury,  tastes,  and 
the  ocean  will  admit.  The  great  licit  fitted  out  at  the 
North,  for  the  ravage  of  the  South,  at  an  expense  of 
nearly  five  millions  of  dollars,  resulted  merely  in  the 
capture  of  Port  Royal — a  fruitless  victory,  since  the 
cotton  which  they  intended  to  steal  or  rob  its  owners  "I". 
was  promptly  given  to  the  flames  by  the  patriotism  of 
those  who    had  already  given    their   best    beloved    to   the 

e  (lf  their  country.  Ami  in  enumerating  the  aehiv  mo- 
ments of  the  enemy,  perhaps  his  forcible  search  of  a 
British  mail  steamer,  and  his  arrest  upon  her  deck  of 
our  ambassadors  —  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell  —  should 

not  be  omitted;  but  as  this  victory  IS  at  tin'  expense  of 
England's  honor  and  pride,  and  as  that  nation  ha  rarely 
tolerated  international  insult  or  outrage,  it  is  not  un- 
likely to  prove  to  him  bitter  as  Dead  Sea  fruit.  Bat 
his  final,  signal,  and  characteristic  victory,  has  been  the 
recognition  of  Hay ti — a  victory  whereby  Lincoln  has 
become  the  oldest  brother  of  GiflYard — the  Puritans 
been  wed  to  the  Vaudoux—&nd  the  New  England 
form  of  Christianity  leagued  with  Ilaytien.fetichism. 
The  people  of  our  Confederacy  have  r.    son  to  rejoico 


CAUSES   FOR   THANKSGIVING.  191 

and  give  thanks,  for  the  many  important  victories  and 
unexpected  chain  of  successes,  which  have  crowned  their 
arms ;  for  the  comparatively  few  and  trifling  reverses  they 
have  experienced ;  for  the  great  impulse  of  progress  im- 
parted to  their  industry,  resources,  and  ingenuity — illus- 
trating to  them,  for  the  first  time,  their  own  power ;  for 
their  undoubted  prospects  of  being  in  future  metropoli- 
tans, instead  of  provincials — masters,  in  place  of  depend- 
ents— and  teachers,  where  they  were  pupils;  but,  particu- 
larly, for  their  providential  delivery  from  a  continuance 
of  association  with  those  who  were  their  former  allies, 
and  who  are  now  their  cruel,  bloodthirsty,  and  abomi- 
nable foes.  Favored,  as  she  is,  with  every  clement  of 
greatness  and  splendor,  the  position  which  Nature  de- 
signed the  South  to  occupy,  is  that  of  Empress  of  the 
continent.  Her  people  have  the  intellect  and  breeding 
which  qualify  them  to  guide  and  rule,  and  they  should 
enforce  their  prerogative.  She  is  producer  of  commodi- 
ties upon  which  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  a  great 
portion  of  mankind  depend;  and  as  the  summer's  sun 
first  visits  her  clime,  and  loves  to  linger  there  the 
longest,  so  should  her  civilization  be  brilliant,  genial, 
and  sublime.  But  let  it  not  be  overlooked  or  forgotten, 
that  '  nation's  independence  has  seldom  been  cheaply 
won— ^Ae  price  of  liberty  is  perpetual  vigilance,  sacrifice 
of  peace,  precious  blood,  and  costly  treasures.  The 
South  could  not,  even  if  she  so  desired,  now  recede  from 
the  proud  attitude  which  she  has  assumed.  She  must  be 
Vassal,  or  free;  her  people  shall  be  sovereign  citizens,  or 
craven  serfs;  she  mu  t  wear  the  queenly  diadem,  or  sit 
in  the  embers  of  slavery — a  Cindtf  ralla  among  the  na- 
tions. No  joal  of  splendor  is  ever  reached,  without 
adversities  a. .J  misfortunes  rendering  the  path   toward  it 


192  CAUSE    AND    CONTRAST. 

lagged  and  uncertain — not  even  the  ineffable  happiness 
of  the  Elysium-life  hereafter.  Nor  is  her  road  to  freedom 
and  independence,  in  this  dreadful  contest,  likely  to  be 
strewn  with  flowers.  The  best  blood  of  her  heroes  may 
redden  her  soil ;  her  daughters  be  compelled  to  wear 
sable  weeds  of  sorrow ;  her  young  and  helpless  ones 
orphaned  ;  her  coasts  pillaged  and  plundered ;  some  of 
her  cities  devastated ;  and  her  harvest  fields  made  deso- 
late. But  let  her  people  buckle  on  the  armor  of  forti- 
tude, be  patient  and  hopeful  under  difficulties,  and 
unflinchingly  resolute  and  determined  in  the  hour  of 
danger.  For  He  who  tested  the  fidelity  and  soothed 
the  sorrows  of  Job — who  levels  the  palace  and  the  hovel, 
and  replenishes  the  grave — who  is  the  undying  perfec- 
tion of  the  living,  and  in  whose  hand  are  the  universal 
dominions — who  tempers  the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb, 
and  comforted  His  servant  in  the  lion's  den — the  God 
who  delivered  His  people  from  Egyptian  bondage,  to 
whom  the  lightnings  of  heaven  and  shields  of  earth 
belong — was  the  God  of  our  fathers,  is  our  God — 
and  doth  He  not  defend  us  with  the  mighty  ivgis  of 
His  protection  ? 


of  thi 
and  indep 

mi  with 
redden  her  s 
sable   "weeds  o 
orphaned ;  her 
her  cities  del 

Bnt  let  In 
tude,   be    patient 
unflinchingly  reso 
danger.      For   He 
tlie  sorrows  of  Job 
and  replenishes  tl 
tion  of  the  living, 
dominions — who   te 
and  comforted    1 1' 
who   delivered   His 
whom  the  lightning 
belong — was    the    G 
and  doth   He    not  di 
Hi.-  protection '.' 


> 


*■'• 


THE  SOUTlBERN  SPI: 

i 


A.    POT.LARD,    o.    V.. 

tons  opfrn 


, 


WEST  & 


* 


